24: Day Six, 11 a.m – 12 p.m.
Ummmmm, guys you do remember that small detail that a nuclear bomb just went off in an L.A. suburb, right? Because from what I’ve seen the last two weeks, with the exception of some shots of a dissapating mushroom cloud, we’ve not really dealt with this.

I’ve read in various places that 24 tends to break down the day into arcs. So, I wonder if this epiosde was about changing arcs. It really felt like we were moving characters into place for the next big 24 event to happen.

I will give 24 credit–it’s calmed my fears of a shark-fin sighting a good deal this week. Having Graem reveal he’s been playing both Jack and Daddy Bauer was a nice reveal. And 24 is just one of those shows that excels at giving you little details you wish they’d follow up on–like Graem’s line of “Remember when you abandoned Dad, Jack?” I sat up, wanting to know more about this. I assume we’ll find out about it later, but it’s still pretty cool.

And I do wonder some things–is Graem more involved in the bringing the suitcase devices to th United States than just as the broker for the deal? And if he is, how long until Jack goes completely Bauer on him. You have to admit, these two know how to get under each other’s skin with Graem taunting Jack about Terry’s death. (Playing dirty there…do any TV siblings get along?)

There were a few things about this episode I didn’t buy. One is how easily Tom got Karen to resign. It didn’t seem in character for her and while she’s loyal to Bill, it’s hard to believe she’d so easily step down, especially in the light of how wary she is of Tom’s agenda. She just found out Tom has railroaded in extra secruity measures for those of Arab-descent and she quickly steps down. I felt like the scene when she went to talk to Wayne would be her revealing what had happned to Wayne and asking for help, not resigning. Did I miss something here?

I am glad the Waylid plotline is over. Talk about a complete blind alley. Was there any point to this other than to give the Palmer sister something to do? Could we please write her of the show yesterday? She’s really getting on my last nerve and that plotline adds nothing to the show. Nada, zip, zilch, zero..you get the point.

And anyone else think that Milo giving Nadia his security clearance won’t come back to bite him? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Though I do get a weird Tony/Michelle type of romantic tension between these two. I guess an intense day like that will do that for you….

Heroes: The Fix
I hate NBC’s marketing department. First of all, they leak out that George Takai will guest-start as Hiro’s father, thus ruining all the intrigue of the Hiro plotline. Knowing that George Takai would be in the episode and who he was took all the mystery out of who was pursuing Hiro and Ando. It took what should have been a fun reveal and completely ruined it.

The second this is–I avoided the television promos for the show, having been burned by Friday Night Lights last week. But then, they advertise on the radio and give away that Claire finds her birth mother during my morning commute on Monday! Ugh! I hate you NBC marketing department.

That said, the episode itself was not a lot to write home about. It’s another place holder, content to tread water as it attempts to set up some things for the next few weeks. I find it hard to believe that DL could slip into and out of prison at will to see Niki like he does here. And Micah’s power is what we all suspected. And how long until the police show up to ask questions on that based on the security camera footage of the ATM he ripped off? You’d think the kid might have thought the plan to take the money through a bit more.

At least Christopher Eccleston is given a bit more to do. He’s apparently going to be some kind of Obi-Wan to Peter’s Luke. I did enjoy the nice homage to Doctor Who with Eccleston’s “Fantatsic!” But again, this plotline stagnates until the last three minutes when suddenly it all revs up just in time to say “To Be Continued”

And along the way, it goes as predictably as possible. Matt and his wife are expecting now (umm, weren’t they barely speaking two weeks ago? Is the kid actually his? Will they bring this up or just hope we forget?) and Micah’s being a brat. Sylar escapes and HRG is up to no good. Yeah, anything new there? Not really.

So far, this whole “Who is on the list” question hasn’t proved nearly as interesting as the “Save the cheerleader, save the world” plotline from the first 11 episodes. I can see that we’re trying to expand the Heroes universe a bit, but so far I’m just not that interested.

Dresden Files: The Boone Identity
I found out this week that SciFi is airing these episodes out of order, which explains a lot. Seems that last week’s episode wasn’t intended to be a pilot–that will come in late February.

Frustrating, but not unexpected. They pulled the same stunt with Eureka. When will these networks ever learn?

This week’s episode stumbled a bit. It was too derivative. I’m not sure what it is with genre shows and having the second episode be one about some entity jumping from person to person, but the pattern holds true here. Angel did it, Torchwood did it and now Dresden Files.

I think part of it was that every time they mentioned Anubis, I kept wondering where the Stargate team was. Were there no other ancient gods whose names we could have used?

I wanted to like the episode, but found it a bit lacking. It was predictable and I guessed early on what the game was. I also found myself having issues with the differences between the novels and the show (esp. Harry’s use of black magic here). But that is more a personal thing and I try not to hold it against the show. (The show is different and changes must be made…but I don’t have to like all of them) It felt like more of a way to pass time until Battlestar came on and the Baltar plotline just blew this out of the water.

The best part of the show was Bob. Terrance Mann steals every scene he’s in as Bob. Let’s hope we get more of him in the future.

Battlestar Galactica: Taking a Break From All Your Worries
I wrote about it for the 2 Guys Talking TV Blog. So, please check out what I said there.

Veronica Mars: Poughkeepsie, Tramps & Thieves
I wrote about it for the 2 Guys Talking TV Blog. So, please surf over and read my thoughts, if you’re interested.

I’ve watched the first two episodes of The Dresden Files and found them to be enjoyable enough, though this week’s episode was highly derivative.

But as I watched, I knew there were some changes made from the books to the television screen. These things happen.

I found an article today that details some of the major differences between the show and the books. Very interesting.

The Dresden Files: Birds of a Feather
Couple of reasons for my interest in this one. I’ve read the first few novels in this series and found them enjoyable and fun. Then, you add in the guy adapting the novels for TV is Robert Hewitt Wolfe who oversaw some of the best seasons of DS9 and you’ve got a pretty good combination.

So, the first episode–so far, so good. I’m not devoted enough to the original texts to point out everything that’s been changed, but some things obviously have to be in order to make it work for television. I will admit that I do miss the first-person perspective we get in the novels, but I’m not sure having a Harry Dresden voice over would work as well here. The first episode of the show nicely establishes the situation, the tone and the on-going plotlines for the show, all while delivering a creepy, entertaining main mystery plot for Harry to solve. It has my interest and it’s one of those shows I think could really grow into something, should SciFi give it a chance. I don’t think SciFi did it any favors by having the first episode airing during the AFC Championship game. I hope that the potential audience won’t tune it out, fearing they’re lost and won’t catch up. This one has potential.

Smallville: Labrynth
Seems that every sci-fi show worth its salt has one of those episodes were the hero or one of the heroes questions what is and isn’t real. Is the reality Clark experience in the show just a fantasy he’s made up to not deal with the fact that he’s kind of crazy and in a mental hosptial. The success of episodes like this hinge on how the two realties feed each other and where the differences emerge. Seeing Lex in a wheelchair with no legs is a nice homage to the pilot. Thinking that Lana would wait around while Clark is the looney bin screams of adolescent fantasy to the n-th degree and, unfortuantely, revives the Clark loves Lana plotline that, dear heavens, I thought this show was done with. Plus notes go to the show for the introduction of Martian Manhunter, moving the Phantom Zone fugitives plotline forward and actually being better than I thought it’d be based on the preview. Show loses points for Clark being able to walk out of mental hospital just by putting on a baseball cap.

But just so you know–Buffy did it better.

Friday Night Lights: Little Girl, I Wanna Marry You
Curse the NBC promo department for giving us the last scene in the previews all week! Someone needs to be taken out and flogged–either that or made to watch endless repeats of My Mother the Car until they see the error of their ways.

That said, this show continues to get better. If you’re not watching, make this appointment television immediately. Trust me, it’s that good.

This week’s episode comes from the pen of Jason Katsims who wrote for Roswell back in the day. I think he created it as well. He knows how to write for teens and not make it sound, well, like Dawson’s Creek. (I actually watched Roswell for a season and a half or so..it was entertaining and it was on after Buffy, so there you go. Plus any show with Sheri Appleby and Katerine Heigel….how can you go wrong?) Katsims also wrote the second episode where Friday went from good to great and hasn’t looked back.

There were so many good scenes that this post could just be listing them all. But I won’t. I’ve narrowed it down to three.

• Jason goes to confront Buddy Garrity. Buddy sets Lilah up on a date to show her there are other guys and to maybe push her away from Jason. Jason shows up, demands to the truth and gets it. Buddy wants more for his daughter than the life of caretake of the crippled quarterback. Powerful, raw, real and intense.
• Coach Taylor and his wife, Tami, disagree on whether she should work on the mayor’s re-election campaign. The mayor, in case you missed it, is a gay woman and this makes Taylor a bit uncomfortable. The show could have gone PC, but it doesn’t, making us disike Taylor in this plotline, but respecting him in the other one we see this week. His assertation that the mayor wants Tami’s help because she wants the help of the coach’s wife is the highlight of this.
• Smash’s use of steroids is found out. This leads to Taylor having to make a hard choice–keep quiet and risk forfeiting all the games that year, thus losing his job or report Smash, effectively ending Smash’s hopes of escaping Dylan and providing any kind of good life for his family. The scenes between Smash and his mother about the steroid use are great and while they could be cliched, they ring true.