New Shows
I saw the Grey’s Anatomy episode that served as a pilot for Private Practice, and I thought it stunk stinky stink stuff. A lot of pretty people competing for camera angles and whining about the angst and agony of being successful, wealthy, gorgeous professionals.
Having decided not to ever subject myself to it again, I nonetheless ended up zombied in front of the first ten minutes or so of the premiere, and let me tell you, the pilot was Shakespeare compared to this shit. Private Practice makes you forget that Addison was ever an interesting or compelling character on Grey’s; that’s right, it’s so bad it can travel back in time and make other things retroactively bad. That’s pretty bad.
The Bionic Woman does a lot right and has enough going on that some people will be interested in watching. But not me. Although I love seeing Miguel Ferrer and Will Yun Lee in supporting roles, the central characters are incredibly stiff. Casting also has a thing for huge blue eyes, so several characters kind of look alike. Our title character (Michelle Ryan) has a romance with the big expert on bionics (Chris Bowers), and this romance is life-altering for both of them, but it’s got anti-chemistry. When they have sex, I want to count ceiling cracks. And the rest of it seems very by-the-numbers, very television: Here’s our cool hero, here’s our cool villain, look how we’ve “subtly” established that the kid sister is a computer whiz, and hey, look, technology. Whatever.
Reaper is actually pretty charming. The premise is that a slacker’s parents sold his soul to the devil (Ray Wise), payable on his 21st birthday. The pilot opens the day Sam (Bret Harrison) turns 21. There’s definitely wit and I definitely laughed, aided by the fact that this episode was directed by Kevin Smith. The sidekick, played by Tyler Labine, is trying too hard to be Jack Black, but overall the tone works. It’s a lot like Dead Like Me, except not annoying. Sam’s Satanic job is to collect souls who have escaped from Hell and return them. Thus you have a little adventure and f/x every week, and some humorous fights (this week the “vessel” of collection was a Dirt Devil, next week it’s a remote-controlled monster truck). Plus, Sam’s job is actually pretty moral—he’s fighting demons—so he isn’t minding it, and you can already see the ironic character arc where do-nothing Sam learns to be a good guy while serving Hell. Plus there’s the hopeless crush on the “just friends” girl.
New Seasons
House was the best thing on television for two years, and limped along (no pun intended) last year on a great cast with considerably weaker writing. Unfortunately, season 4 is looking a lot like season 3. The pilot introduced some new twists, but the medicine was stupid, and the outrage was the wrong kind of outrageous. Robert Sean Leonard, as House’s only friend, was absolutely brilliant this episode, totally stole the show, but I don’t see the holy shit I can’t believe I’m watching this dazzle of year one.
Heroes started kind of okay. I mean, it was a very fine episode, reuniting us with characters, checking in on how things have changed, establishing some important mysteries, and introducing some new heroes. But overall, it seemed like an episode for the established fans. I don’t see how this particular episode could have succeeded in bringing new viewers on board. Which is a shame, because it really is an excellent show.
I half-watched the Bionic Woman… little girl tells her mother that she just saw a woman out-running their car, and after mom doesn’t believe her, she says I just thought it was cool seeing that a woman could do that or some such.
Thanks for clubbing me over the head with a message that Buffy spent seven years unfolding like flower petals.
Crap, crap crap crap crap.
Plus the fact that the scene is lifted straight out of Superman: The Movie.
I’m more excited about the new season of Dexter, and the news that Mad Men will be back for a second season, than anything on the broadcast networks. But I liked Reaper. Not any real moral ambiguity (right at the beginning, Satan tells him “Don’t worry, kid. God wins in the end,”) but that’s okay. And I loved Ray Wise. He and Kevin Smith were on Freh Air on Tuesday and Smith said he knew Wise was right for the role when he played Satan as “the world’s most sincere/insincere used car salesman.” LOL
Doesn’t Robert Sean Leonard steal every episode of House? Now that everyone knows how good John Cusack is, I’m nominating Leonard to succeed Edward Herrmann as America’s most under-recognized great actor (once known as the Robert Duvall Award, though some of the more historically-minded members of the committee want to change it to honor Edward G. Robinson or Robert Ryan.)
I heart RSL. I knew him when he was 13 and I was 17. I heart him differently now.
I’m more excited about the new season of Dexter…
Amen to that!
I decided to omit the summer series from this write-up, and I’ve written about Mad Men before. The summer season for me was all about Mad Men, but I’ve also been following The 4400 from the beginning, which, no matter how cheesy it sometimes gets, always manages to be fresh and surprising and intelligent. And I discovered Saving Grace, which I hope will be back. They’re re-showing the season which is great because I missed the first two, but it looks like my non-Tivo DVR fucked up the pilot, damn.
Saving Grace, by the way, is outstanding.
I’m willing to give “House” the benefit of the doubt, to see what they do about replacing the team. The medicine was fairly stupid, but I like the switcheroo…. and RSL was faboo.
I watched my first episode of “Heroes”, and I thought “Gee, I wish I knew what was going on.”… which is what I expected to think. Looks like a show I’d probably like, but I don’t know if I’m willing to spend the time getting to know these people now……
I taped the season opener of “Bones”, but I don’t know if I’m going to watch it. And I don’t watch any other network TV…..
The only season premiere I caught was “America’s Next Top Model.” One of the contestants has Asperger’s, and so far, she’s blowing everyone else out of the water.
House – RSL definitely stole this episode for me, and I still enjoy Hugh Laurie in this role, but I figured out what was wrong with this patient as soon as they showed her in the hospital, and wtf is the costumer doing to Cuddy? She looks like she can hardly move in her dresses, and her boobs are getting more prominently displayed all the time.
Bones – It was pretty good, actually. I think that’s about as good as Bones gets. I always thought Boreanaz was the weak link on Buffy, I kind of liked him on Angel, but he’s the best character on screen in Bones. Loki is interested in watching because it looks like the Illuminati are going to figure into a larger arc this season.
Heroes – I sort of lost interest in it towards the end of last season, but this premiere piqued my interest back up. At least until Sylar returns, because I fucking hate Sylar, and not in the love to hate him way.
4400 – Loki has the entire season on our DVR and is begging me to watch it. I have seen a few episodes, it’s good but for some reason it’s not grabbing me.
Mad Men – Loved this one, so glad it’s coming back again!
Ken, the 9th Wonders website can probably catch you up on Heroes, and hey, I’m here to help.
Bones I tried several times, because I heart Boreanaz, but it is too mediocre to waste precious time on.
Mad Men–last night’s episode has me breathless.
Bones–uggh. Can’t do it. The chick reminds me of Riley’s wife, but maybe not quite as bad. More damn big blue eyes. They really are everywhere this season. I’m commuting through city subways these days, and there are ginormous posters everywhere for all the new shows. Football size blue eyes staring from photoshop-wispy thin faces.
Quite proud of myself for not watching Grey’s last night. It was never my plan to stop watching, but I was distracted. I’ll catch some now and again, but the spell is seriously broken.
I forgot… I also taped and watched “Chuck” because, well, Jayne….. Cute, but I don’t see it lasting too long.
I watched the first episode of “torchwood” on BBCAmerica and liked it, but forgot to watch the second… something that happens a lot to me.
Torchwood I forgot to watch, I meant to but I didn’t.
Thursday I set my DVR for all my shows, I hope it worked.
I’ve got nothing to watch. I was a hardcore Buffy fan and then it went away. I watched Carnivale on HBO, but that went away too. Rome is gone too. I like Medium and catch it now and then, but it doesn’t do enough to hook me in week after week.
I recommend Mad Men, Saving Grace, and Life (a cop show) whole-heartedly.