It's about to happen again, I can feel it. Yet another of my favorite television shows is going to get canceled and disappear from my continually shrinking "to watch" list. Seriously, I get that one man's trash is another's treasure, but why do the truly great shows never seem to find an audience?
A few years ago it was The Black Donnellys. The year after that it was Journeyman. Next came Life. And now... probably the best of the bunch: Southland. Maybe it's just coincidence that all of these shows originally aired on the much-maligned NBC network, or maybe not. Brilliant shows all. Add to these the disappearance of ABC's Pushing Daisies and my prime time viewing enjoyment has been severely inhibited over the past few seasons.
For those unfamiliar, Southland is yet another cop show. This one, however, more closely resembles popular hospital dramas such as E.R. and Chicago Hope (and, I'll say it... Grey's Anatomy... pardon me while I clean the puke out of my mouth) in that it's an ensemble show. It follows in the footsteps of the great Hill Street Blues (which set the precedent for ensemble cop dramas) and the underrated High Incident.
But it's better than all of those. And it's only been on for 13 episodes.
Some history: the show premiered on NBC in the late Spring of 2009. Its first season ran only seven episodes, probably largely to the fact that NBC can't keep a non-Law & Order show on the air for much longer than that. So then NBC picks it up for 13-episode second season. But, largely due to the Jay Leno fiasco, NBC cancels the show for being "too dark" after six episodes have been filmed, but none aired.
Thanks, Jay.
Anyway, TNT buys the show in toto from NBC and re-airs the first season in a lead-up to the six episodes of the second. The final episode aired last week and now fans of Southland anxiously await TNT's verdict concerning renewal. The show did well, but not well enough to be a shoe-in. And here we are.
Seriously, this gritty look into the LAPD is the best ensemble cop show I've ever seen (and is definitely a candidate for best cop show, period). Extremely well-written, with realistic dialogue (heavy subjects are often casually dismissed, while frivolous topics often take up entire conversations), documentary-style camera work (though I'm tired of hand-held camera, the show's use of digital cameras lends to its tone), and character development that not only provides subplot, but pervades into the main plot.
I've no idea how realistic the portrayal of the show is (I've never been a cop), but it seems far more so than anything else... including that "gritty" (I use this word, but I do hate doing so) NYPD Blue. Maybe The Wire has it beat, but I've yet to watch all of that particular show. And, besides, HBO has a leg-up on everybody.
Still, I do hope TNT does fans of the show a favor and gives us a third season... or the rest of the second season. There are too many character threads left hanging, and I just have to know what happens. The show has done well enough to double TNT's ratings in its timeslot, and it (to the best of my interpretation) is not losing money for the network. So why not?
And besides... it made me fall in love with Regina King. Like... totally.
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label television. Show all posts
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, May 25, 2009
Why Cops Must Hate the Mentalist
I enjoy The Mentalist, I really do. I understand that it's an extremely contrived show, but it's full of well-written characters and full of some nice touches that many viewers aren't used to seeing (CBI, anyone?). And, it's certainly far and away better than that totally contrived copycat on Fox, Lie to Me. Sure, it's not as slick, but neither does it rely on as much gimmickery and ultimate pointlessness.
Anyway... though I like the series, headlined by an actor I've followed since I first saw him in a bit part in L.A. Confidential (one of my favorite movies), I'm of the opinion that real cops and detectives must hate it. Ever notice how most of the procedural stuff is handled by Jane (the main character)? And he handles it in such a way that he almost scoffs at it like it's "duh" obvious. And even though the show, unlike Lie to Me, does highlight some procedural and forensic work done by real cops, it's usually as afterthought or just a way to build the other characters in the series. For the show, it works, but it still can't make real cops happy.
Other Television Musings
So, the inevitable happened: Life was canceled. Screw all you bastards who didn't tune it to save it. Ah, well... at least the finale was awesome.
The BBC hit, Primeval, is back, and boy does it suck so far. What happened to the days of shows getting better as they go on? Are even writers suffering from the impatience felt by viewers? And everyone wonders why reality TV is so prolific these days.
The upcoming season certainly has the record for lamest new show titles: The Listener, Mental, The Middle, Glee? Come on, now.
Jay Leno might wind up saving NBC in the short run, but he's going to kill network TV in the long run.
Somebody needs to convince the CW to give it up. Seriously... go away. Sell your better shows to the Big Four and just go away.
While I can't wait for The Cleveland Show to start, something tells me 90 minutes of Seth McFarlane every week is not going to work for very long. Then again, I think I'm overestimating the intelligence of TV audiences, so I'm probably wrong.
Do I really want 18 NFL games per season? Um... I love my Chargers, but no.
The next great NBC shows that aren't going to make it: Chuck and Southland. We can just throw them into the Life, Journeyman, and The Black Donnelly's pile right now.
Prison Break is finally gone. Good riddance. Although I give kudos for that ending.
Craig Ferguson is the best late night host on television.
For you Pushing Daisies fans, it's coming back for three weeks, Saturday nights on ABC.
And, in closing, for you whiny fans who seem to think ratings don't matter, who the fuck do you think ultimately pays for the shows you watch? This ain't the UK, and we ain't got the BBC. So watch the fucking commercials.
Have a nice day.
Anyway... though I like the series, headlined by an actor I've followed since I first saw him in a bit part in L.A. Confidential (one of my favorite movies), I'm of the opinion that real cops and detectives must hate it. Ever notice how most of the procedural stuff is handled by Jane (the main character)? And he handles it in such a way that he almost scoffs at it like it's "duh" obvious. And even though the show, unlike Lie to Me, does highlight some procedural and forensic work done by real cops, it's usually as afterthought or just a way to build the other characters in the series. For the show, it works, but it still can't make real cops happy.
Other Television Musings
So, the inevitable happened: Life was canceled. Screw all you bastards who didn't tune it to save it. Ah, well... at least the finale was awesome.
The BBC hit, Primeval, is back, and boy does it suck so far. What happened to the days of shows getting better as they go on? Are even writers suffering from the impatience felt by viewers? And everyone wonders why reality TV is so prolific these days.
The upcoming season certainly has the record for lamest new show titles: The Listener, Mental, The Middle, Glee? Come on, now.
Jay Leno might wind up saving NBC in the short run, but he's going to kill network TV in the long run.
Somebody needs to convince the CW to give it up. Seriously... go away. Sell your better shows to the Big Four and just go away.
While I can't wait for The Cleveland Show to start, something tells me 90 minutes of Seth McFarlane every week is not going to work for very long. Then again, I think I'm overestimating the intelligence of TV audiences, so I'm probably wrong.
Do I really want 18 NFL games per season? Um... I love my Chargers, but no.
The next great NBC shows that aren't going to make it: Chuck and Southland. We can just throw them into the Life, Journeyman, and The Black Donnelly's pile right now.
Prison Break is finally gone. Good riddance. Although I give kudos for that ending.
Craig Ferguson is the best late night host on television.
For you Pushing Daisies fans, it's coming back for three weeks, Saturday nights on ABC.
And, in closing, for you whiny fans who seem to think ratings don't matter, who the fuck do you think ultimately pays for the shows you watch? This ain't the UK, and we ain't got the BBC. So watch the fucking commercials.
Have a nice day.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Afraid of Star Trek
Okay, let me just get this out of the way: I am a nerd; therefore, I like nerdy things. One of those things happens to be the Star Trek franchise, though I am hardly a Star Trek fanboy.
To put this in perspective, I grew up on reruns of Star Trek, and absolutely loved Star Trek: The Next Generation. Can't say I really got into Deep Space Nine (I watched three seasons and called it quits), Voyager (three episodes), or Enterprise (three minutes... if that). I must also state that I am a subscriber to the "even numbered" theory behind the films... that is, the even-numbered films are great, and the odd-numbered films suck ass. Yes, I realize that the last pre-reset film was an even-numbered film and sucked ass, but just bear with me.
I am, ostensibly, very excited for this new movie due out in a couple of days. Simply titled Star Trek, it's purportedly a blank-slate, discarding much of the overwhelming crap that has come to populate this uber-popular franchise. In my opinion, whomever came up with that idea is a genius (though I do feel the "original timeline" still deserves a proper send-off).
But...
In watching the previews for this new film, it appears to me that Star Trek is turning into a fanboy-only franchise, replete with ridiculous scenarios, do-all characters, and a complete omission of what little military and/or space agency accuracy the franchise had. Our beloved crew of Kirk, Spock, Uhura, etc., are no longer strangers who met on Enterprise, but instead classmates at their respective academy. How they will explain how Kirk rose to Captain while Chekov remained an Ensign will no doubt come as a surprise to everyone.
Anyway, I'm revealing too much of my nerdiness, I'm afraid. In short, my true fear lies in that there's a strong possibility that another franchise that I grew up loving will be trashed for so-called "marketability." This already happened with Star Wars, Charlie's Angels, Knight Rider, Indiana Jones, and (to a lesser extent) Battlestar Galactica.
Perhaps my fears are unjustified and the movie will rock all worlds, but I just can't take another childhood favorite getting ruined. I already have a crap-tacular G.I. Joe to look forward to.
To put this in perspective, I grew up on reruns of Star Trek, and absolutely loved Star Trek: The Next Generation. Can't say I really got into Deep Space Nine (I watched three seasons and called it quits), Voyager (three episodes), or Enterprise (three minutes... if that). I must also state that I am a subscriber to the "even numbered" theory behind the films... that is, the even-numbered films are great, and the odd-numbered films suck ass. Yes, I realize that the last pre-reset film was an even-numbered film and sucked ass, but just bear with me.
I am, ostensibly, very excited for this new movie due out in a couple of days. Simply titled Star Trek, it's purportedly a blank-slate, discarding much of the overwhelming crap that has come to populate this uber-popular franchise. In my opinion, whomever came up with that idea is a genius (though I do feel the "original timeline" still deserves a proper send-off).
But...
In watching the previews for this new film, it appears to me that Star Trek is turning into a fanboy-only franchise, replete with ridiculous scenarios, do-all characters, and a complete omission of what little military and/or space agency accuracy the franchise had. Our beloved crew of Kirk, Spock, Uhura, etc., are no longer strangers who met on Enterprise, but instead classmates at their respective academy. How they will explain how Kirk rose to Captain while Chekov remained an Ensign will no doubt come as a surprise to everyone.
Anyway, I'm revealing too much of my nerdiness, I'm afraid. In short, my true fear lies in that there's a strong possibility that another franchise that I grew up loving will be trashed for so-called "marketability." This already happened with Star Wars, Charlie's Angels, Knight Rider, Indiana Jones, and (to a lesser extent) Battlestar Galactica.
Perhaps my fears are unjustified and the movie will rock all worlds, but I just can't take another childhood favorite getting ruined. I already have a crap-tacular G.I. Joe to look forward to.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Battlestar Galactica: Ultimately Pointless
If you're even half of a science fiction fan, you know by now that the "re-imagined" version of Battlestar Galactica aired its series finale last Friday. In it, the fugitive Colonials finally defeated the mean Cylons (with the help of some friendly Cylons) and settled on Earth. Our Earth, mind you; not the one they were looking for, which was a different Earth populated entirely by Cylons who apparently wiped each other out.
A twist, however, reveals that the Colonials arrived at our Earth 150,000 years ago, and that a Cylon-Human hybrid child, Hera (a centerpiece of the series, for those of you who don't watch) is the "mitochondrial Eve."
Silly, I know, and the end result of the show is that, ultimately, it was all for naught.
What? What did I just write? Yeah, you read it... the entire series was an exercise in futility. I'll get to that in a bit, but first some background is in order.
Battlestar Galactica is about a space-faring human civilization that made its home light-years from Earth (the real Earth... ours). There, they colonized 12 planets and enjoyed existence among the stars. Eventually, they created a race of robots (the Cylons) who gained self-awareness and promptly waged war on their human former-masters. The war ended in an armistice, and the Cylons disappeared.
40 years later they return, and just as promptly whoop some serious ass. Now, I'm not going to go into all of the contradictory and completely illogical plot progressions of the series, but basically what happens is that the survivors of humanity (40 or 50k of them) take off in search of Earth, a supposedly mythical place that is the home to a 13th long-forgotten colony.
Their reasons for going there are simple: they need a new home, and they need that colony's help for protection against the Cylons.
Fast-forward to the finale: the Colonials take on the Cylons one last time and, despite the fact that we never see it happen on-screen, all of the bad-guy Cylons are destroyed. The Colonials win. They whooped some ass. And then, for some mysterious reason, they decide to populate the primitive Earth and fly all of their ships into the sun.
Basically, they have a new home, but no protection against the Cylons. And, let's face it, space is huge... there are undoubtedly more Cylons out there still looking for the Colonials. But, whatever.
So why is all this ultimately pointless? Well, think about it. The Colonials won. The illogical writers of the series want us to believe that all the bad Cylons are gone, leaving the Colonials to do whatever the Hell they want.
Put it this way: they could've went home. They could've went back to Kobol, which is supposedly their ancestral home. They could've gone anywhere in the galaxy and settled anywhere they wanted to.
Sure, they're a bit low on population, but they could've bred with the local Earthlings (the product of an extremely unlikely perfect parallel evolution), rebuilt their military strength, and gone back to the 12 Colonies later.
But, they can't. They're stuck. They went all that way to disappear into history. AND THEY COULD'VE WENT HOME. The Cylons were defeated. There was nothing left to fear. They no longer needed to find a new home... they had the choice of five different star systems (the 12 Colonies, Kobol, New Caprica, Earth 1, and Earth 2). They no longer needed protection against the Cylons. The journey was done, over, kaput.
And the messed up part is: they never even had to leave their home system in order to wind up with the same result.
Conclusion: ultimately pointless.
A twist, however, reveals that the Colonials arrived at our Earth 150,000 years ago, and that a Cylon-Human hybrid child, Hera (a centerpiece of the series, for those of you who don't watch) is the "mitochondrial Eve."
Silly, I know, and the end result of the show is that, ultimately, it was all for naught.
What? What did I just write? Yeah, you read it... the entire series was an exercise in futility. I'll get to that in a bit, but first some background is in order.
Battlestar Galactica is about a space-faring human civilization that made its home light-years from Earth (the real Earth... ours). There, they colonized 12 planets and enjoyed existence among the stars. Eventually, they created a race of robots (the Cylons) who gained self-awareness and promptly waged war on their human former-masters. The war ended in an armistice, and the Cylons disappeared.
40 years later they return, and just as promptly whoop some serious ass. Now, I'm not going to go into all of the contradictory and completely illogical plot progressions of the series, but basically what happens is that the survivors of humanity (40 or 50k of them) take off in search of Earth, a supposedly mythical place that is the home to a 13th long-forgotten colony.
Their reasons for going there are simple: they need a new home, and they need that colony's help for protection against the Cylons.
Fast-forward to the finale: the Colonials take on the Cylons one last time and, despite the fact that we never see it happen on-screen, all of the bad-guy Cylons are destroyed. The Colonials win. They whooped some ass. And then, for some mysterious reason, they decide to populate the primitive Earth and fly all of their ships into the sun.
Basically, they have a new home, but no protection against the Cylons. And, let's face it, space is huge... there are undoubtedly more Cylons out there still looking for the Colonials. But, whatever.
So why is all this ultimately pointless? Well, think about it. The Colonials won. The illogical writers of the series want us to believe that all the bad Cylons are gone, leaving the Colonials to do whatever the Hell they want.
Put it this way: they could've went home. They could've went back to Kobol, which is supposedly their ancestral home. They could've gone anywhere in the galaxy and settled anywhere they wanted to.
Sure, they're a bit low on population, but they could've bred with the local Earthlings (the product of an extremely unlikely perfect parallel evolution), rebuilt their military strength, and gone back to the 12 Colonies later.
But, they can't. They're stuck. They went all that way to disappear into history. AND THEY COULD'VE WENT HOME. The Cylons were defeated. There was nothing left to fear. They no longer needed to find a new home... they had the choice of five different star systems (the 12 Colonies, Kobol, New Caprica, Earth 1, and Earth 2). They no longer needed protection against the Cylons. The journey was done, over, kaput.
And the messed up part is: they never even had to leave their home system in order to wind up with the same result.
Conclusion: ultimately pointless.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Organized Musings
Introduction
I have decided to organize my random musings. So there.
Television
NBC moving giving Leno their M-F 10 PM slot is going to be A) the end of NBC, or B) the end of network television. Option A will happen if the move is unsuccessful, forcing NBC to revert to "traditional" 10 PM shows, putting the network in a "catch up" position with ABC, CBS, and Fox. Option B will happen if the move is successful, and the rest of the Big Four nets follow suit, forcing audiences to cable channels in order to find quality scripted television.
Prison Break is going bye-bye, which is no surprise. Fox could've turned that show into something great, but instead decided to make it a reverse 24 of sorts, rather than the Kung Fu, The Fugitive, and The A-Team homage that it should've been.
Related to the NBC-Leno thing: Life and (likely) Chuck are screwed.
Battlestar Galactica is beginning its final run. Here's hoping that the nerd-critics finally realize what crap the show's been since part-way through its second season.
Sports
LaDanian Tomlinson is crying about taking a smaller role in the offense. Dude, I thought you were about "being classy." Support your team, take the role, extend your career, and shut the fuck up. All that stated, the mere fact that the Chargers are considering dumping him is ludicrous. That's the face of your team, you idiots.
The Padres allowed Trevor Hoffman to go to the Brewers. That was the face of your team, you idiots.
Speaking of the Brewers, will somebody PLEASE put them back in the American League? And get rid of interleague play while you're at it.
Politics
Obama's taking over soon. Meet the new boss, not much different than the old boss. Hah! Seriously, though, he's no fool... change will come slowly, yet steadily, but this overnight shit just ain't going to happen.
Supposedly the government has identified Mexico (along with Pakistan) as the state most likely to collapse within the next decade or so. I say we annex.
Music
Listen to Fascinoma (she's awesome).
U2's new album comes out shortly... here's hoping it's a great one.
Hollywood
Despite numbers showing otherwise, Hollywood is running around pretending it's in some sort of financial crisis, which is putting it in a financial crisis. How fucking stupid is that?
SAG is not going to strike. If it does, we will definitely see the ascension of AFTRA as the power actor's union in Hollywood. I'm going to assume that even SAG isn't dumb enough to let that happen, but nothing will surprise me.
Heath Ledger does not deserve an Academy Award. Yeah, it sucks he's dead, and I was certainly a fan, but his Joker (while excellent... outstandingly excellent) does not deserve an Academy Award.
Animals
One of my dogs has figured out how to circumvent an electric fence. I am very, very afraid.
So, the Bush Administration lifted some protections from certain groups of Grey Wolves. Almost immediately, Idaho and Montana started organizing wolf hunts. Does that seem ridiculous to anyone else?
MySpace
I'm glad to see that MySpace has finally fixed the blog clock. Seriously, why was that a problem in the first place?
Conclusion
'Til next time...
I have decided to organize my random musings. So there.
Television
NBC moving giving Leno their M-F 10 PM slot is going to be A) the end of NBC, or B) the end of network television. Option A will happen if the move is unsuccessful, forcing NBC to revert to "traditional" 10 PM shows, putting the network in a "catch up" position with ABC, CBS, and Fox. Option B will happen if the move is successful, and the rest of the Big Four nets follow suit, forcing audiences to cable channels in order to find quality scripted television.
Prison Break is going bye-bye, which is no surprise. Fox could've turned that show into something great, but instead decided to make it a reverse 24 of sorts, rather than the Kung Fu, The Fugitive, and The A-Team homage that it should've been.
Related to the NBC-Leno thing: Life and (likely) Chuck are screwed.
Battlestar Galactica is beginning its final run. Here's hoping that the nerd-critics finally realize what crap the show's been since part-way through its second season.
Sports
LaDanian Tomlinson is crying about taking a smaller role in the offense. Dude, I thought you were about "being classy." Support your team, take the role, extend your career, and shut the fuck up. All that stated, the mere fact that the Chargers are considering dumping him is ludicrous. That's the face of your team, you idiots.
The Padres allowed Trevor Hoffman to go to the Brewers. That was the face of your team, you idiots.
Speaking of the Brewers, will somebody PLEASE put them back in the American League? And get rid of interleague play while you're at it.
Politics
Obama's taking over soon. Meet the new boss, not much different than the old boss. Hah! Seriously, though, he's no fool... change will come slowly, yet steadily, but this overnight shit just ain't going to happen.
Supposedly the government has identified Mexico (along with Pakistan) as the state most likely to collapse within the next decade or so. I say we annex.
Music
Listen to Fascinoma (she's awesome).
U2's new album comes out shortly... here's hoping it's a great one.
Hollywood
Despite numbers showing otherwise, Hollywood is running around pretending it's in some sort of financial crisis, which is putting it in a financial crisis. How fucking stupid is that?
SAG is not going to strike. If it does, we will definitely see the ascension of AFTRA as the power actor's union in Hollywood. I'm going to assume that even SAG isn't dumb enough to let that happen, but nothing will surprise me.
Heath Ledger does not deserve an Academy Award. Yeah, it sucks he's dead, and I was certainly a fan, but his Joker (while excellent... outstandingly excellent) does not deserve an Academy Award.
Animals
One of my dogs has figured out how to circumvent an electric fence. I am very, very afraid.
So, the Bush Administration lifted some protections from certain groups of Grey Wolves. Almost immediately, Idaho and Montana started organizing wolf hunts. Does that seem ridiculous to anyone else?
MySpace
I'm glad to see that MySpace has finally fixed the blog clock. Seriously, why was that a problem in the first place?
Conclusion
'Til next time...
Saturday, December 6, 2008
For Quality Television, Save a Life
I really wanted to avoid writing another piece about television, I really did, but a quality show is in serious danger of not making it past the end of spring, so I feel compelled.
The show is called Life, and anyone who knows me knows that I feel that Life is one of the best shows on the small screen. In fact, it irks me that it has such a small audience, because that leads me to believe American viewers are idiots.
Sorry. I understand that's not exactly the best way to convince people to watch a show they're not currently watching, but I can't fucking help it.
So, starting over: watch Life because it's one of the best shows on television.
For those unfamiliar (and most of you probably are), the show follows LAPD robbery/homicide detective Charlie Crews, played by the excellent Damian Lewis (you might remember him as Major Winters from Band of Brothers). A stand-up cop, he was framed for the murders of his friend and his friend's wife and sent to Pelican Bay on a life sentence. As the evidence was mounted against him, both his police partner and his wife turned against him, and he found himself taking solace in studying philosophy while he struggled with life in prison.
But then, something crazy happened. An ultra-hot lawyer, Constance Griffiths, took up his cause. 12 years went by, new evidence was presented, and Crews was released. Part of the deal with the city for wrongful imprisonment included a multi-million dollar settlement and, surprisingly, his old job back in the LAPD. Let me take a moment to mention that Griffiths is in love with Crews, but is married to another man, while Crews is still in love with his (now) ex-wife... who is remarried... and feeling a tad guilty.
So he gets to work. While he solves crime with is new partner, the gorgeous Dani Reese, he uses his spare time to find out who framed him. And such is the point of the show.
Ultimately, he discovers a rather large faction of LAPD-insiders was involved in his framing, including Dani Reese's father and, perhaps, his Lieutenant (played by the wonderful Robin Weigert... but now replaced, post-WGA strike, by the out-of-place Donal Logue... who admittedly sucks).
Crews deals with his new-found freedom by spending freely on bad-ass cars and a mansion (but no furniture), buying an orchard (because of some Zen-influenced worldview), and bedding as many drop-dead sexy women as he can find.
And all the while caring about nothing other than finding out who got him put away.
There are many compelling subplots to the show. Crews' accountant is a man he met in prison, serving time for white collar crimes. Crews' partner, Reese, is a recovering alcoholic. And then there's the little girl (now grown up) who was the daughter of the people Crews was convicted of killing.
All in all, the show has everything. Sex, violence, twists, turns... wrapped up in what's easily the most compelling current overall plot on network TV.
Yes, it's a serialized show, which means you need to start from the beginning in order to truly understand what's going on, but it's only in its second season, and you can pick up the first season on DVD from Amazon.com for less than $20.
So why the fuck aren't you watching?
The show is called Life, and anyone who knows me knows that I feel that Life is one of the best shows on the small screen. In fact, it irks me that it has such a small audience, because that leads me to believe American viewers are idiots.
Sorry. I understand that's not exactly the best way to convince people to watch a show they're not currently watching, but I can't fucking help it.
So, starting over: watch Life because it's one of the best shows on television.
For those unfamiliar (and most of you probably are), the show follows LAPD robbery/homicide detective Charlie Crews, played by the excellent Damian Lewis (you might remember him as Major Winters from Band of Brothers). A stand-up cop, he was framed for the murders of his friend and his friend's wife and sent to Pelican Bay on a life sentence. As the evidence was mounted against him, both his police partner and his wife turned against him, and he found himself taking solace in studying philosophy while he struggled with life in prison.
But then, something crazy happened. An ultra-hot lawyer, Constance Griffiths, took up his cause. 12 years went by, new evidence was presented, and Crews was released. Part of the deal with the city for wrongful imprisonment included a multi-million dollar settlement and, surprisingly, his old job back in the LAPD. Let me take a moment to mention that Griffiths is in love with Crews, but is married to another man, while Crews is still in love with his (now) ex-wife... who is remarried... and feeling a tad guilty.
So he gets to work. While he solves crime with is new partner, the gorgeous Dani Reese, he uses his spare time to find out who framed him. And such is the point of the show.
Ultimately, he discovers a rather large faction of LAPD-insiders was involved in his framing, including Dani Reese's father and, perhaps, his Lieutenant (played by the wonderful Robin Weigert... but now replaced, post-WGA strike, by the out-of-place Donal Logue... who admittedly sucks).
Crews deals with his new-found freedom by spending freely on bad-ass cars and a mansion (but no furniture), buying an orchard (because of some Zen-influenced worldview), and bedding as many drop-dead sexy women as he can find.
And all the while caring about nothing other than finding out who got him put away.
There are many compelling subplots to the show. Crews' accountant is a man he met in prison, serving time for white collar crimes. Crews' partner, Reese, is a recovering alcoholic. And then there's the little girl (now grown up) who was the daughter of the people Crews was convicted of killing.
All in all, the show has everything. Sex, violence, twists, turns... wrapped up in what's easily the most compelling current overall plot on network TV.
Yes, it's a serialized show, which means you need to start from the beginning in order to truly understand what's going on, but it's only in its second season, and you can pick up the first season on DVD from Amazon.com for less than $20.
So why the fuck aren't you watching?
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Name's Bauer... Jack Bauer
24: Redemption premiered last night after quite a long period of hype by the folks at Fox. And, boy, did it suck terrorist balls.
Cliché after cliché after cliché, combined with Kiefer Sutherland's "man, I'm really tired of doing this" style of acting and rampant, pervasive product placement, all led to the worst incarnation of the 24 franchise... ever.
Seriously, I think I learned more about Hyundai, Sprint, and Cisco then I did about the heinous plot of an African warlord attempting to overthrow his government.
I also learned that the US Army still flies single-engine Hueys overseas. And that 14 children will inauspiciously fail to step on strategically placed bouncing land mines, but when one of those children loses something in said minefield and returns to retrieve it, the ex-special forces soldier escorting him will notice the mine, push the child out of the way, and equally inauspiciously wind up stepping on the very same mine.
Lame.
But not as lame as the "payoff moment" when the same child who caused the landmine problem places his hand on Jack's shoulder.
I'm guessing "emotional connection" isn't taught in screenwriting classes anymore.
The franchise, it seems, is showing its wrinkles. To be fair, 24: Redemption was an unprecedented one-off, and the upcoming season itself looks very promising, but one thing is for sure: it's time for Kiefer to go. Jack Bauer needs to give way to new blood or just give way in general.
Whatever is done, just make sure Ricky Schroeder doesn't take the reins.
Cliché after cliché after cliché, combined with Kiefer Sutherland's "man, I'm really tired of doing this" style of acting and rampant, pervasive product placement, all led to the worst incarnation of the 24 franchise... ever.
Seriously, I think I learned more about Hyundai, Sprint, and Cisco then I did about the heinous plot of an African warlord attempting to overthrow his government.
I also learned that the US Army still flies single-engine Hueys overseas. And that 14 children will inauspiciously fail to step on strategically placed bouncing land mines, but when one of those children loses something in said minefield and returns to retrieve it, the ex-special forces soldier escorting him will notice the mine, push the child out of the way, and equally inauspiciously wind up stepping on the very same mine.
Lame.
But not as lame as the "payoff moment" when the same child who caused the landmine problem places his hand on Jack's shoulder.
I'm guessing "emotional connection" isn't taught in screenwriting classes anymore.
The franchise, it seems, is showing its wrinkles. To be fair, 24: Redemption was an unprecedented one-off, and the upcoming season itself looks very promising, but one thing is for sure: it's time for Kiefer to go. Jack Bauer needs to give way to new blood or just give way in general.
Whatever is done, just make sure Ricky Schroeder doesn't take the reins.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Bite the Dust and Push Some Daisies
Well, it's been officially announced: Pushing Daisies will not be renewed due to poor ratings.
America, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Pushing Daisies is, hands down, the best hour-long family show on network television. It's superbly written, consistently hilarious, beautifully conceived, expertly produced, and aesthetically wonderful. To put it more simply: it's fucking awesome.
I really don't get how you people (yes, you people) don't latch on to outstanding programs, but somehow watch crap Knight Rider enough to keep it on the air. And don't get me wrong, I love KITT, but this new version has got to go.
This will mark the third year in a row one of my "can't miss" shows gets whacked early. Last year was the fantastic Journeyman; the year before was the drastically underrated The Black Donnelly's. And while The Black Donnelly's managed an ending (despite it not being aired) worthy of a series finale, Journeyman left us with questions we will never see answered, and it's reported that Pushing Daisies will do the same.
I guess the problem with Pushing Daisies is that it was intelligent and unique. I'm sure if it were another entry in the CSI or Law & Order franchises, you monkeys would've been watching.
Lame.
America, seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Pushing Daisies is, hands down, the best hour-long family show on network television. It's superbly written, consistently hilarious, beautifully conceived, expertly produced, and aesthetically wonderful. To put it more simply: it's fucking awesome.
I really don't get how you people (yes, you people) don't latch on to outstanding programs, but somehow watch crap Knight Rider enough to keep it on the air. And don't get me wrong, I love KITT, but this new version has got to go.
This will mark the third year in a row one of my "can't miss" shows gets whacked early. Last year was the fantastic Journeyman; the year before was the drastically underrated The Black Donnelly's. And while The Black Donnelly's managed an ending (despite it not being aired) worthy of a series finale, Journeyman left us with questions we will never see answered, and it's reported that Pushing Daisies will do the same.
I guess the problem with Pushing Daisies is that it was intelligent and unique. I'm sure if it were another entry in the CSI or Law & Order franchises, you monkeys would've been watching.
Lame.
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Fall 2008 Television Season: Rants and Reviews, Part III
Okay, barring any really odd late-season pickups, this should be my last entry ranting and reviewing the "Fall 2008 Television Season."
Let's cut to the chase, shall we?
My Own Worst Enemy - despite a garbage premiere, Christian Slater's foray into the world his Young Guns II co-star has recently re-popularized (read: TV secret agents) is surprisingly good, and more than a little compelling. The design aesthetic of yet another super-secret government organization is a bit over-the-top, but the presence of two of my "mental loves" of younger days (read: Mädchen Amick and Saffron Burrows) certainly doesn't hurt.
The Unit - you know a show is hurting when it attempts to "diversify" a demographic unrealistically. Yes, the vaunted boys of "The Unit" now include a girl. The idea isn't bad, in and of itself, but its execution is crap. She's not very believable, and, worse, seems relegated to "Unit secretary," but that's not even the most disturbing part of the new season. I can't say I've seen Army wives quite so involved in their husbands' work, I must admit. A not-good-enough show has been made worse.
Rant and Review Updates:
Heroes - an initial pan, followed by a possible reversal, followed by a renewed pan. This cycle of Heroes is lame... there's just no other way to put it.
Life - this show is definitely kicking ass. Too bad NBC has relegated it to the "we're going to cancel this show" time slot (10 PM, Friday nights). The good news is that it did get picked up. The bad news is that we probably won't see any of those episodes, save on DVD.
Prison Break - remember how I wrote how I hated getting ready to watch this, but enjoyed the actual watching of it? Well, that's changing... it's getting boring, and quickly.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - one week up, one week down; one good sub-plot, one bad sub-plot; one good arc, one bad arc - I really wish this show would make up its mind. Still, I don't see it lasting beyond this season.
Let's cut to the chase, shall we?
My Own Worst Enemy - despite a garbage premiere, Christian Slater's foray into the world his Young Guns II co-star has recently re-popularized (read: TV secret agents) is surprisingly good, and more than a little compelling. The design aesthetic of yet another super-secret government organization is a bit over-the-top, but the presence of two of my "mental loves" of younger days (read: Mädchen Amick and Saffron Burrows) certainly doesn't hurt.
The Unit - you know a show is hurting when it attempts to "diversify" a demographic unrealistically. Yes, the vaunted boys of "The Unit" now include a girl. The idea isn't bad, in and of itself, but its execution is crap. She's not very believable, and, worse, seems relegated to "Unit secretary," but that's not even the most disturbing part of the new season. I can't say I've seen Army wives quite so involved in their husbands' work, I must admit. A not-good-enough show has been made worse.
Rant and Review Updates:
Heroes - an initial pan, followed by a possible reversal, followed by a renewed pan. This cycle of Heroes is lame... there's just no other way to put it.
Life - this show is definitely kicking ass. Too bad NBC has relegated it to the "we're going to cancel this show" time slot (10 PM, Friday nights). The good news is that it did get picked up. The bad news is that we probably won't see any of those episodes, save on DVD.
Prison Break - remember how I wrote how I hated getting ready to watch this, but enjoyed the actual watching of it? Well, that's changing... it's getting boring, and quickly.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - one week up, one week down; one good sub-plot, one bad sub-plot; one good arc, one bad arc - I really wish this show would make up its mind. Still, I don't see it lasting beyond this season.
Friday, October 10, 2008
The Fall 2008 Television Season: Rants and Reviews, Part II
The ranting and reviewing continues, though remains incomplete.
More shows and my impressions:
Californication - after an absolutely hysterical first season, our favorite addictive writer is back and true to form. HD format aside, Showtime makes itself worth it just for this series.
Chuck - what can I say? This show is ridiculous and charming. The opener picked up right where the previous season left off, in story, tone, and quality of writing. NBC's got a home run.
The Family Guy and American Dad - for whatever reason, The Family Guy just never gets old. No, the reason is obvious: anything and everything is fair game for vulgar ridicule. And I do mean anything and everything. Throw in your gratuitous pop culture references and you've got entertainment even the dumbest people can get. While mysteriously under-appreciated, its sister show, American Dad, keeps up the game The Family Guy started. Sure, it seems to fill more of a niche than The Family Guy, but it's just as good and sometimes better.
House - television's favorite doctor is back, and as good as ever. The new cast seems comfortable in their characters, Hugh Laurie plays as irritable as usual, and the writing rarely (if ever) slips. There's a reason House is one of my two favorite shows on television.
Life - the other of my two favorite shows on television. I have to admit, the less-than-stellar season premiere had me worried. The disjointedness of the script, combined with a new police captain (played by the underwhelming Donal Logue) replacing my favorite lieutenant (the wonderful Robin Weigert) and Dani Reese's lame hairstyle, gave me cause for alarm. Thankfully, the second episode returned to form, even if Reese's hair remained.
The Mentalist - like House and Life, this show centers on a quirkly main protagonist who is surrounded by competent "normal" people. Instead of being an asshole genius doctor or a wounded zen cop, the protagonist of The Mentalist is a former con artists (of sorts) who simply notices everything. Also like House and Life, this show is good. We'll see if it can keep it up.
Pushing Daisies - a completely ridiculous concept. A man who can bring the dead back to life with a touch, and kill them again with another touch? Oh, and if the first person brought back to life is kept alive for more than a minute, somebody else somewhere dies. Completely. Ridiculous. And the most charming show on television.
The Simpsons - what can anyone really say about The Simpsons? It's still around after all these years. It's still of reasonably high quality. Sure, it's not still the animated true sitcom it once was, and it's been heavily influenced by The Family Guy as of late, but it's The Simpsons. By now as American as apple pie (despite being animated in Korea).
Rant and Review Update: Heroes - if the last couple of episodes are any indication, Heroes is back on track to be great entertainment. Kudos.
Still to be R&Red are My Own Worst Enemy, The Unit, so expect a Part III (trilogies are cliché, I know) with those shows and more updates.
More shows and my impressions:
Californication - after an absolutely hysterical first season, our favorite addictive writer is back and true to form. HD format aside, Showtime makes itself worth it just for this series.
Chuck - what can I say? This show is ridiculous and charming. The opener picked up right where the previous season left off, in story, tone, and quality of writing. NBC's got a home run.
The Family Guy and American Dad - for whatever reason, The Family Guy just never gets old. No, the reason is obvious: anything and everything is fair game for vulgar ridicule. And I do mean anything and everything. Throw in your gratuitous pop culture references and you've got entertainment even the dumbest people can get. While mysteriously under-appreciated, its sister show, American Dad, keeps up the game The Family Guy started. Sure, it seems to fill more of a niche than The Family Guy, but it's just as good and sometimes better.
House - television's favorite doctor is back, and as good as ever. The new cast seems comfortable in their characters, Hugh Laurie plays as irritable as usual, and the writing rarely (if ever) slips. There's a reason House is one of my two favorite shows on television.
Life - the other of my two favorite shows on television. I have to admit, the less-than-stellar season premiere had me worried. The disjointedness of the script, combined with a new police captain (played by the underwhelming Donal Logue) replacing my favorite lieutenant (the wonderful Robin Weigert) and Dani Reese's lame hairstyle, gave me cause for alarm. Thankfully, the second episode returned to form, even if Reese's hair remained.
The Mentalist - like House and Life, this show centers on a quirkly main protagonist who is surrounded by competent "normal" people. Instead of being an asshole genius doctor or a wounded zen cop, the protagonist of The Mentalist is a former con artists (of sorts) who simply notices everything. Also like House and Life, this show is good. We'll see if it can keep it up.
Pushing Daisies - a completely ridiculous concept. A man who can bring the dead back to life with a touch, and kill them again with another touch? Oh, and if the first person brought back to life is kept alive for more than a minute, somebody else somewhere dies. Completely. Ridiculous. And the most charming show on television.
The Simpsons - what can anyone really say about The Simpsons? It's still around after all these years. It's still of reasonably high quality. Sure, it's not still the animated true sitcom it once was, and it's been heavily influenced by The Family Guy as of late, but it's The Simpsons. By now as American as apple pie (despite being animated in Korea).
Rant and Review Update: Heroes - if the last couple of episodes are any indication, Heroes is back on track to be great entertainment. Kudos.
Still to be R&Red are My Own Worst Enemy, The Unit, so expect a Part III (trilogies are cliché, I know) with those shows and more updates.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Fall 2008 Television Season: Rants and Reviews, Part I
The new television season is in full swing and, thankfully, running strong thanks to no SAG strike. Hopefully it stays that way.
On to the shows:
Entourage - somehow, this show just keeps getting better and better. Of course, that's probably because it's a show pertaining to Hollywood itself, and the writers no doubt have an infinite number of personal experiences to draw upon. This season Vincent is struggling to clear his name following last season's Medellin debacle. It's fucking great.
Fringe - this new Fox show from J.J. Abrams started out with a bang. Quite simply, its series premiere was excellent. So excellent, in fact, that Joshua Jackson's bland self didn't even have a chance of ruining it. And then the series kept going. The second episode was horrible, and the third was only marginally better. Something better happen quick, or viewers are going to abandon this exploration of fringe science.
Heroes - talk about a boring season premiere. The only part of it worth watching was the last five minutes (the Syler twist), but now even that seems old and overdone. Watch as he becomes a mere foil, rather than the arch-villain. And did anyone else notice how the premiere completely made the first season's plot ("save the cheerleader, save the world") irrelevant?
Kitchen Nightmares - Gordon Ramsay, you rock. But the American version of your beloved BBC's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares sucks. There's no insight into the restaurant industry... it's just another family-fighting reality show.
Primeval - this one's on BBC America, probably the best cable channel in the United States. After a great first season, a wanton second series attitude of "bigger and badder" is tearing the show apart. Hopefully they get back to the subtle nature of things. And quick.
Prison Break - this is an aberration. I despise the moments prior to my actually watching it, because for some reason I feel the show is boring. But I only feel that way when I'm not watching it. When I am watching it, I absolutely love it. They're not breaking out of another prison this season, but the government conspiracy they're trying to crack is actually one that doesn't make you roll your eyes.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - decent first season, even though it suffered from a near-immediate continuity error (a metal Terminator head coming through the time warp). The second season? So far, garbage. Apt, considering the casting of the lead singer of Garbage. She almost single-handedly ruins the show. Another crap episode and this one's off the DVR to do list.
True Blood - Hollywood seems irrationally attracted to vampires as of late, but this new HBO series provides just enough of a twist to stay interesting. Still finding its feet, I'm liking where it's heading. Certainly better than that Moonlight crap we had to suffer through last season.
Other shows on my DVR list include House, Dexter, Californication, Chuck, and Life. I haven't gotten to those yet, so those will be ranted and reviewed in part II.
Bring back JLU!
On to the shows:
Entourage - somehow, this show just keeps getting better and better. Of course, that's probably because it's a show pertaining to Hollywood itself, and the writers no doubt have an infinite number of personal experiences to draw upon. This season Vincent is struggling to clear his name following last season's Medellin debacle. It's fucking great.
Fringe - this new Fox show from J.J. Abrams started out with a bang. Quite simply, its series premiere was excellent. So excellent, in fact, that Joshua Jackson's bland self didn't even have a chance of ruining it. And then the series kept going. The second episode was horrible, and the third was only marginally better. Something better happen quick, or viewers are going to abandon this exploration of fringe science.
Heroes - talk about a boring season premiere. The only part of it worth watching was the last five minutes (the Syler twist), but now even that seems old and overdone. Watch as he becomes a mere foil, rather than the arch-villain. And did anyone else notice how the premiere completely made the first season's plot ("save the cheerleader, save the world") irrelevant?
Kitchen Nightmares - Gordon Ramsay, you rock. But the American version of your beloved BBC's Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares sucks. There's no insight into the restaurant industry... it's just another family-fighting reality show.
Primeval - this one's on BBC America, probably the best cable channel in the United States. After a great first season, a wanton second series attitude of "bigger and badder" is tearing the show apart. Hopefully they get back to the subtle nature of things. And quick.
Prison Break - this is an aberration. I despise the moments prior to my actually watching it, because for some reason I feel the show is boring. But I only feel that way when I'm not watching it. When I am watching it, I absolutely love it. They're not breaking out of another prison this season, but the government conspiracy they're trying to crack is actually one that doesn't make you roll your eyes.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - decent first season, even though it suffered from a near-immediate continuity error (a metal Terminator head coming through the time warp). The second season? So far, garbage. Apt, considering the casting of the lead singer of Garbage. She almost single-handedly ruins the show. Another crap episode and this one's off the DVR to do list.
True Blood - Hollywood seems irrationally attracted to vampires as of late, but this new HBO series provides just enough of a twist to stay interesting. Still finding its feet, I'm liking where it's heading. Certainly better than that Moonlight crap we had to suffer through last season.
Other shows on my DVR list include House, Dexter, Californication, Chuck, and Life. I haven't gotten to those yet, so those will be ranted and reviewed in part II.
Bring back JLU!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Justice League Unlimited: A Review and a Prayer
If you haven't noticed yet, there is a serious glut of comic books making their way to the big and small screens. Surprisingly, most of these attempts are excellent, many are simply good, and only a select few are crap.
Of the outstanding ones, we have the first two X-Men films, the first two Spider-Man films, the two new Batman films, Superman Returns, Iron Man, Hellboy, and a few non-superhero adaptations like Road to Perdition and 300.
In the good category, there are the two Fantastic Four entries, The Punisher, both of the Hulk films (albeit arguably), Blade, and others like A History of Violence.
The garbage includes Daredevil and Ghost Rider (both directed by Mark Steven Johnson, which should tell people something), Catwoman (which had nothing to do with the comic book character) and most of the third entries in various trilogies (X-Men, Spider-Man, Blade, etc.).
On TV we get to watch apparently excellent Smallville (I have only seen a couple of episodes), the very good non-comic-based Heroes, and a plethora of cartoons, both good and bad.
Which brings me to the glorious standard of animated superheroes: the DC animated universe (DCAU). In it, we were given the absolutely phenomenal Batman: The Animated Series, the consistent Superman: The Animated Series, a couple of still-good but more obscure cartoons (such as Static Shock), and the pinnacle of superhero cartoons: Justice League Unlimited (which began life as the two-season Justice League).
Other DC entries have been, admittedly, child-oriented crap, and it's no accident that the aforementioned DCAU series was produced by the venerable Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, who have nothing to do with DC's other cartoons.
Marvel cartoons have only come close to the quality offered by the DCAU once, with the 1990s cartoon version of the X-Men.
Unfortunately, and somewhat inexplicably, Warner Brothers and DC pulled the plug on the DCAU, and motion picture comic fans have been feeling the sting ever since.
Justice League Unlimited was, and I can't emphasize this enough, the best superhero cartoon television series of all time. In fact, if one includes the DCAU Batman and Superman series, what we witnessed was the best superhero television-in-general series of all time.
Mature storylines, rife with violence, sexual tension, and geopolitical plots, supported by a who's-who of DC comic book characters, made this the must-see comic adaptation of the past, well, ever.
The characters were developed, dimensional, and depicted both strengths and weaknesses often ignored by other series. Even Superman, the one character most easily turned cardboard, was written with an attitude that made you love him or hate him, depending on what he was in the middle of.
The show explored relationships the comic book universe rarely explored, or even thought of (a hint of a Batman-Wonder Woman love affair was fantastic, even if underdeveloped and short-lived). The black Green Lantern, John Stewart, was taken from his stereotypical roots and given a believable background worthy of a superhero. And the list goes on.
But, alas, the show is no more, having been canceled in 2006. As such, we'll never get to see the Dini-Timm version of the Legion of Superheroes, set up via a backdoor pilot in an episode in the final season of JLU. We'll never get to find out what happened to Lex Luthor and Darkseid, who disappeared together in a blaze of glory in the series' final episode. We'll never know if the JLU was able to save Longshadow from his degenerative state. And we'll never get to see if Green Lantern reveals to Hawkgirl that he met their child in the future.
And that just plain sucks.
In all honesty, Heroes is not as intriguing as JLU was. As a cartoon, JLU wasn't limited by special effects, or by large casts. As a cartoon, it could sneak in pop-culture references without the gratuitous eye-rolling that often acompanies an audience reaction to a live-action series. As a cartoon, well, it could do damn-well whatever it wanted.
DC should bring it back. Given the current muddled state that DC's actual comic book universe is in, JLU was, quite simply, the best and most consistent product they were putting out.
Don't let it fade away.
Of the outstanding ones, we have the first two X-Men films, the first two Spider-Man films, the two new Batman films, Superman Returns, Iron Man, Hellboy, and a few non-superhero adaptations like Road to Perdition and 300.
In the good category, there are the two Fantastic Four entries, The Punisher, both of the Hulk films (albeit arguably), Blade, and others like A History of Violence.
The garbage includes Daredevil and Ghost Rider (both directed by Mark Steven Johnson, which should tell people something), Catwoman (which had nothing to do with the comic book character) and most of the third entries in various trilogies (X-Men, Spider-Man, Blade, etc.).
On TV we get to watch apparently excellent Smallville (I have only seen a couple of episodes), the very good non-comic-based Heroes, and a plethora of cartoons, both good and bad.
Which brings me to the glorious standard of animated superheroes: the DC animated universe (DCAU). In it, we were given the absolutely phenomenal Batman: The Animated Series, the consistent Superman: The Animated Series, a couple of still-good but more obscure cartoons (such as Static Shock), and the pinnacle of superhero cartoons: Justice League Unlimited (which began life as the two-season Justice League).
Other DC entries have been, admittedly, child-oriented crap, and it's no accident that the aforementioned DCAU series was produced by the venerable Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, who have nothing to do with DC's other cartoons.
Marvel cartoons have only come close to the quality offered by the DCAU once, with the 1990s cartoon version of the X-Men.
Unfortunately, and somewhat inexplicably, Warner Brothers and DC pulled the plug on the DCAU, and motion picture comic fans have been feeling the sting ever since.
Justice League Unlimited was, and I can't emphasize this enough, the best superhero cartoon television series of all time. In fact, if one includes the DCAU Batman and Superman series, what we witnessed was the best superhero television-in-general series of all time.
Mature storylines, rife with violence, sexual tension, and geopolitical plots, supported by a who's-who of DC comic book characters, made this the must-see comic adaptation of the past, well, ever.
The characters were developed, dimensional, and depicted both strengths and weaknesses often ignored by other series. Even Superman, the one character most easily turned cardboard, was written with an attitude that made you love him or hate him, depending on what he was in the middle of.
The show explored relationships the comic book universe rarely explored, or even thought of (a hint of a Batman-Wonder Woman love affair was fantastic, even if underdeveloped and short-lived). The black Green Lantern, John Stewart, was taken from his stereotypical roots and given a believable background worthy of a superhero. And the list goes on.
But, alas, the show is no more, having been canceled in 2006. As such, we'll never get to see the Dini-Timm version of the Legion of Superheroes, set up via a backdoor pilot in an episode in the final season of JLU. We'll never get to find out what happened to Lex Luthor and Darkseid, who disappeared together in a blaze of glory in the series' final episode. We'll never know if the JLU was able to save Longshadow from his degenerative state. And we'll never get to see if Green Lantern reveals to Hawkgirl that he met their child in the future.
And that just plain sucks.
In all honesty, Heroes is not as intriguing as JLU was. As a cartoon, JLU wasn't limited by special effects, or by large casts. As a cartoon, it could sneak in pop-culture references without the gratuitous eye-rolling that often acompanies an audience reaction to a live-action series. As a cartoon, well, it could do damn-well whatever it wanted.
DC should bring it back. Given the current muddled state that DC's actual comic book universe is in, JLU was, quite simply, the best and most consistent product they were putting out.
Don't let it fade away.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Priorities
I have cats. And I love my cats. Okay, sometimes I hate my cats, but for the most part I love my cats. Everyone has a crazy cat story, of course, and I am no different. I've found poo in strange places, woke up to a piss stain on the pillow next to my head, discovered dismembered small-animal parts in my living room, and laughed as a kitten attached itself to my German Shepherd's face.
Despite all of this, I have never had to make a decision of priorities while watching my cats do something that, well, I'd regret later.
Tonight, however, and merely a few moments ago, I did.
Now, my cats adore me. I'm not exactly sure why, as I don't treat them any better than my dogs, but these two cats adore me. They follow me around like begging dogs, watch TV with me, sleep with me, and fight over which one gets to sit in my lap. I haven't been a cat person for very long, relatively speaking, so forgive me if this all comes across as "normal" to some of you. To me, it's downright strange.
Usually when I watch television, one cat will take station on the back of the couch, right above my head. Most of the time, that cat will simply fall asleep, but other times, he'll attack my hair. The other cat will, as implied earlier, simply curl up on my lap.
Now, I'm a fairly avid drinker of Vitamin Water. I like it, and it doesn't damage your teeth as badly as Gatorade does. And, since I usually don't eat as balanced as I should, I take solace in the extra vitamins the drink provides. My current favorite flavor is "power-c." Mind you, Vitamin Water isn't the cheapest drink in the world, and when you add up the gas you use to drive to the nearest convenience store to buy a bottle, it's about, oh, $57.12 for a 32 fluid ounce bottle.
Currently, my favorite comedy is a little-known British comedy called Spaced. To be blunt, it is the funniest fucking 30-minute comedy series I have ever seen. And that's not an exaggeration.
So there I was...
Watching an episode of Spaced, drinking a bottle of "power-c" Vitamin Water, when my dark cat decided he wanted to sit in my lap. Normally, he'd walk to the front of the couch by my feet and jump into my lap. But, since this particular cat suffers from frequent bouts of laziness, he decided to take the short route... which was from the left, over the armrest, which just happened to be where my arm was resting. Go figure, right?
Unfortunately for me, the cat misjudged how much higher he would have to pounce in order to clear my arm, and, as such, didn't quite make it. Instead of simply falling to the ground and trying again, however, he went with "Option B."
Now, I assure you that "Option B" is quite painful, as it involves my cat attempting to maintain altitude by latching onto the nearest surface with his claws. That nearest surface happened to be my arm.
Since I love my cats, I'm always willing to lend a helping hand. The problem here was that one hand was pinned to the armrest, and the other was holding my drink. So, in reactionary fashion, I instantaneously set the bottle between my thighs, reached over with my now-free right hand, grabbed my cat by the neck, and pulled him up to safety... right into my lap. Spilling at least 12 ounces of my 32 ounce drink onto the floor.
Result? Cat not on lap, Vitamin Water not in mouth, me no watch Spaced.
As I knelt there, cleaning up the liquid mess, I went over the incident in my head. I came to the conclusion that my priorities were wrong. I shouldn't have attempted to save the cat, who would've been fine anyway, and lose my drink while interrupting my entertainment.
I should've just hit the cat with the drink bottle, tapped the "jump back" button on the DVR, and finished my show.
Next time, I'll be ready.
Despite all of this, I have never had to make a decision of priorities while watching my cats do something that, well, I'd regret later.
Tonight, however, and merely a few moments ago, I did.
Now, my cats adore me. I'm not exactly sure why, as I don't treat them any better than my dogs, but these two cats adore me. They follow me around like begging dogs, watch TV with me, sleep with me, and fight over which one gets to sit in my lap. I haven't been a cat person for very long, relatively speaking, so forgive me if this all comes across as "normal" to some of you. To me, it's downright strange.
Usually when I watch television, one cat will take station on the back of the couch, right above my head. Most of the time, that cat will simply fall asleep, but other times, he'll attack my hair. The other cat will, as implied earlier, simply curl up on my lap.
Now, I'm a fairly avid drinker of Vitamin Water. I like it, and it doesn't damage your teeth as badly as Gatorade does. And, since I usually don't eat as balanced as I should, I take solace in the extra vitamins the drink provides. My current favorite flavor is "power-c." Mind you, Vitamin Water isn't the cheapest drink in the world, and when you add up the gas you use to drive to the nearest convenience store to buy a bottle, it's about, oh, $57.12 for a 32 fluid ounce bottle.
Currently, my favorite comedy is a little-known British comedy called Spaced. To be blunt, it is the funniest fucking 30-minute comedy series I have ever seen. And that's not an exaggeration.
So there I was...
Watching an episode of Spaced, drinking a bottle of "power-c" Vitamin Water, when my dark cat decided he wanted to sit in my lap. Normally, he'd walk to the front of the couch by my feet and jump into my lap. But, since this particular cat suffers from frequent bouts of laziness, he decided to take the short route... which was from the left, over the armrest, which just happened to be where my arm was resting. Go figure, right?
Unfortunately for me, the cat misjudged how much higher he would have to pounce in order to clear my arm, and, as such, didn't quite make it. Instead of simply falling to the ground and trying again, however, he went with "Option B."
Now, I assure you that "Option B" is quite painful, as it involves my cat attempting to maintain altitude by latching onto the nearest surface with his claws. That nearest surface happened to be my arm.
Since I love my cats, I'm always willing to lend a helping hand. The problem here was that one hand was pinned to the armrest, and the other was holding my drink. So, in reactionary fashion, I instantaneously set the bottle between my thighs, reached over with my now-free right hand, grabbed my cat by the neck, and pulled him up to safety... right into my lap. Spilling at least 12 ounces of my 32 ounce drink onto the floor.
Result? Cat not on lap, Vitamin Water not in mouth, me no watch Spaced.
As I knelt there, cleaning up the liquid mess, I went over the incident in my head. I came to the conclusion that my priorities were wrong. I shouldn't have attempted to save the cat, who would've been fine anyway, and lose my drink while interrupting my entertainment.
I should've just hit the cat with the drink bottle, tapped the "jump back" button on the DVR, and finished my show.
Next time, I'll be ready.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The Spring 2008 Television Season: a Quick Review
Okay, so this is more of a "first three months of 2008" review, rather than a Spring 2008 one, but who the Hell cares?
At any rate, the WGA strike is over and television will soon return to some semblance of normalcy (provided SAG doesn’t strike next). Until then, however, we were left with a rather chaotic early 2008 season. Here are my humble opinions:
The only show I watched on ABC this year (so far) was Lost, and it is pretty damned good, if you ask me. Still, one can notice a certain "rush to finish" (next season is reported to be the last) and the new "flash forward" gimmick has already proven itself too weak to support the season in its entirety, but it still rocks.
On CBS, I was convinced by a friend to watch Jericho, which, thankfully, has just been axed. Great concept, but a definite "rush to finish" mentality (not entirely the writers’ faults, mind you), but extremely sub-par execution. This is not suprising, however, as CBS is rife with sub-par execution (anything without CSI in the title).
The best thing on CBS so far this year was Comanche Moon, the final chapter of the Lonesome Dove saga. Great series, second only to the original. Steve Zahn was near-perfect as Gus McCrae.
Moving on the NBC, I forced myself to suffer through that hack Knight Rider update. Ugh... it’ll get picked up for series, I’m sure, where it won’t last a full season. Think Bionic Woman and you’ve got the right idea.
Let’s see... off the top of my head, I can only recall watching one series on ABC, one on CBS, and not a one on NBC (still waiting for Life and Chuck to come back). Which brings me to Fox... ah, thank the television gods for Fox.
There was Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, New Amsterdam, and American Idol. T:TSCC was rather interesting, and I did rather like it.
Unfortunately, the entire premise is based on a continuity error (explicitly identified in the pilot episode), and it’s really hard for me to keep watching. Still, with the surprising addition of former Beverly Hills 90210 loser Brian Austin Green as a fairly convincing soldier from the future, the show still has my interest. Now we just have to see if it gets picked up.
New Amsterdam has a concept that I really, really like. But, as with many new shows, the series hasn’t found its groove yet (which isn’t an excuse), and it may not make it. Sucks, too, since I have a connection to the lead actress. Ah, well... here’s hoping it gets much better... and fast.
American Idol is, well, American Idol. I can honestly say that I’m tired of the purposefully-goofy auditions, and would much rather watch a serious show. I can also honestly say that the current contestants see themselves far greater than they are (with one or two possible exceptions). And, to wrap it up, I can also honestly say those concert-going posers in the audience really annoy the fuck out of me when they stand up and sway during ballads. I get that they’re all 14-year-old girls, but for fuck’s sake... It’s gotten to the point that I fast-forward through the singing because I can’t stand to watch.
This blog is getting long, and there is no clear train of thought, so let me just add a few things:
HBO’s John Adams is undeniably the miniseries of the year (sorry Comance Moon). It’s a must-see. And, if you don’t like it, or at least find yourself not having a little more respect for our flag, then you need to get the fuck out of my country.
BBC America is addictive. I pretty much watch everything Gordon Ramsay, and am now stuck on yet another kitchen show: Last Restaurant Standing. Fantastic. I can’t wait for an American network to import it and fuck it all up.
I’m sure there are more shows I’ve been watching that I’ve missed, but oh, well... I’m sick of typing.
Have a nice day.
At any rate, the WGA strike is over and television will soon return to some semblance of normalcy (provided SAG doesn’t strike next). Until then, however, we were left with a rather chaotic early 2008 season. Here are my humble opinions:
The only show I watched on ABC this year (so far) was Lost, and it is pretty damned good, if you ask me. Still, one can notice a certain "rush to finish" (next season is reported to be the last) and the new "flash forward" gimmick has already proven itself too weak to support the season in its entirety, but it still rocks.
On CBS, I was convinced by a friend to watch Jericho, which, thankfully, has just been axed. Great concept, but a definite "rush to finish" mentality (not entirely the writers’ faults, mind you), but extremely sub-par execution. This is not suprising, however, as CBS is rife with sub-par execution (anything without CSI in the title).
The best thing on CBS so far this year was Comanche Moon, the final chapter of the Lonesome Dove saga. Great series, second only to the original. Steve Zahn was near-perfect as Gus McCrae.
Moving on the NBC, I forced myself to suffer through that hack Knight Rider update. Ugh... it’ll get picked up for series, I’m sure, where it won’t last a full season. Think Bionic Woman and you’ve got the right idea.
Let’s see... off the top of my head, I can only recall watching one series on ABC, one on CBS, and not a one on NBC (still waiting for Life and Chuck to come back). Which brings me to Fox... ah, thank the television gods for Fox.
There was Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, New Amsterdam, and American Idol. T:TSCC was rather interesting, and I did rather like it.
Unfortunately, the entire premise is based on a continuity error (explicitly identified in the pilot episode), and it’s really hard for me to keep watching. Still, with the surprising addition of former Beverly Hills 90210 loser Brian Austin Green as a fairly convincing soldier from the future, the show still has my interest. Now we just have to see if it gets picked up.
New Amsterdam has a concept that I really, really like. But, as with many new shows, the series hasn’t found its groove yet (which isn’t an excuse), and it may not make it. Sucks, too, since I have a connection to the lead actress. Ah, well... here’s hoping it gets much better... and fast.
American Idol is, well, American Idol. I can honestly say that I’m tired of the purposefully-goofy auditions, and would much rather watch a serious show. I can also honestly say that the current contestants see themselves far greater than they are (with one or two possible exceptions). And, to wrap it up, I can also honestly say those concert-going posers in the audience really annoy the fuck out of me when they stand up and sway during ballads. I get that they’re all 14-year-old girls, but for fuck’s sake... It’s gotten to the point that I fast-forward through the singing because I can’t stand to watch.
This blog is getting long, and there is no clear train of thought, so let me just add a few things:
HBO’s John Adams is undeniably the miniseries of the year (sorry Comance Moon). It’s a must-see. And, if you don’t like it, or at least find yourself not having a little more respect for our flag, then you need to get the fuck out of my country.
BBC America is addictive. I pretty much watch everything Gordon Ramsay, and am now stuck on yet another kitchen show: Last Restaurant Standing. Fantastic. I can’t wait for an American network to import it and fuck it all up.
I’m sure there are more shows I’ve been watching that I’ve missed, but oh, well... I’m sick of typing.
Have a nice day.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Insane Insomnia
Wondering why I'm not asleep? I'll tell you, as you think of how Froot Loops transcended just being orange, lemon, and cherry when you were little. I'm bored, basically... too bored to sleep. Well, maybe not, but I'm afraid my dreams will be boring, so why waste the time counting sheep that would taste better on a kabob instead of hopping some stupid fence that popular culture put into my head?
Then again, I could just play sudoku and waste even more time on worthless crosswords, racking my brain for a three-letter synonym for the word "fuck," all the while wishing I had my old TV back so I could fry my brain watching less-than-B movies on late night HBO and ShowTime. After all, I do waste a lot of money on premium movie channels that I rarely ever watch because my current television is too small and my home theater is in boxes somewhere in the Pacific Time Zone.
Ah, the Pacific Time Zone. The best time zone in the world, even if all of the "live" shows are prerecorded because people on the East Coast can't stay up late enough to watch a proper live telecast. Then again, if television really were based in NYC like New Yorkers like to claim, this wouldn't be an issue, but it isn't... it's based in Los Angeles. So lick me, you East Coasters... lick me like the owl trying to get to the center of the tootsie pop. Just don't bite on the last one. I have a sneaking suspicion that would hurt.
Pain... yet another reason I don't sleep at night. Why? Well, because my fucking foot and ankle hurt all the fucking time. But, since you're busy giving yourself a pedicure with those flesh-eating Japanese fish, you probably don't want to think about feet too much.
Anyway, I'm off to dream of sex and violence.
Because abstinence and peace are just too fucking boring.
Then again, I could just play sudoku and waste even more time on worthless crosswords, racking my brain for a three-letter synonym for the word "fuck," all the while wishing I had my old TV back so I could fry my brain watching less-than-B movies on late night HBO and ShowTime. After all, I do waste a lot of money on premium movie channels that I rarely ever watch because my current television is too small and my home theater is in boxes somewhere in the Pacific Time Zone.
Ah, the Pacific Time Zone. The best time zone in the world, even if all of the "live" shows are prerecorded because people on the East Coast can't stay up late enough to watch a proper live telecast. Then again, if television really were based in NYC like New Yorkers like to claim, this wouldn't be an issue, but it isn't... it's based in Los Angeles. So lick me, you East Coasters... lick me like the owl trying to get to the center of the tootsie pop. Just don't bite on the last one. I have a sneaking suspicion that would hurt.
Pain... yet another reason I don't sleep at night. Why? Well, because my fucking foot and ankle hurt all the fucking time. But, since you're busy giving yourself a pedicure with those flesh-eating Japanese fish, you probably don't want to think about feet too much.
Anyway, I'm off to dream of sex and violence.
Because abstinence and peace are just too fucking boring.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Battlestar Galactica: From Great to Lazy
In 2003, the beloved cult classic television series, Battlestar Galactica, returned to the small screen in a miniseries event that was, to say the least, a spectacular example of good, dramatic, science fiction. In almost every way imaginable (save for maybe "family values") the new Battlestar Galactica surpassed the original, and fans eagerly awaiting its inception as a weekly series. Season One continued the trend started by the miniseries, and is arguably the best stand-alone season of any science fiction show in the history of television. It was well-written, taut, and full of real-life problems in a fictional world. Season Two started to waver a bit, but for the most part maintained at least the tone of the first season.
It was, without doubt, one of the hardest-working shows with one of the hardest-working writing staffs at the time.
And then, at the end of Season Two, the unthinkable happened: the incongruous "One Year Later."
An obvious gimmick for a writing staff who seemed to be getting tired of the concept. Tired? How the Hell was this possible? The writers had barely even scratched the surface of the depth the show's premise offered. And yet, there it was... in our face, slapping as hard as it could. For those familiar with the much-maligned term "jumped the shark," this is when our beloved show jumped the battlestar.
One year later? One year of character development, unfinished storylines, plot progressions, and a clear change in direction of the show. Some fans (mostly fanboys and fangirls) loved it. Of course they would... these are the same people who loved the new Star Wars trilogy. Their standards are so low, they're the reason the Stargate shows lasted as long as they did.
Oh, Season Three started with a bang, I'll admit, but one full of inconsistencies, larger plot-holes, and a definite change in tone from the "realistic, naturalistic" science fiction promised by the show creators to an unrealistic, clearly contrived show that most casual fans find hard to care about. Don't believe me? Check the steady decline in ratings since the first season.
Sure, David Eick, one of the two show-runners, wanted to try out his horrible and horrifying remake of Bionic Woman, and Ronald Moore, the other show-runner and one of the only reasons the Star Trek franchise maintained quality for as long as it did, had his eye on silver screen projects. But this is my point: it was like they wanted to quit Battlestar Galactica in order to pursue their ultimate goal of being television and film powerhouses. I can't fault them for that, but I can fault them for not handing over the reigns of the once uber-great Battlestar Galactica to other writer-producers to keep the show going for more than four seasons. After all, that was how Ronald Moore got his start, by being handed the reigns of someone else's pet project. Perhaps his vanity got in the way of him doing the same for someone else.
No, not perhaps. That's exactly what happened.
Where's my proof? Well, just take a look at the silly "Final Five" Cylon concept. Initially, we were led to believe that there were 12 "human" Cylons, infiltrated in the RTF and causing all sorts of problems. Eventually, only 7 of those Cylons were revealed, leaving us wondering who the last 5 were. But, instead of drawing it out, keeping us guessing until the moment the RTF finds Earth, the writers decided to ret-con their own "history" and make the "Final Five" a group of prophetic not-quite-Cylon beings who seem to be involved in the overall machinations of the universe. Four of those Cylons were revealed to be human characters we've been following for quite some time now... human characters whose histories preclude them from being Cylons, hence, the ret-con. It was, to say the least, one of the cheapest shots taken at an audience since Rosebud was revealed to be a sled. Only Rosebud had a reason behind it... Battlestar Galactica's was simply a case of writers wanting to hurry to a finale.
So, here we are, watching a show that was once about a band of humans doing everything they could to survive in a situation that did not want them to survive, and is now about a band of humans being used as pawns in a prophetic chess-match between players whose identities are still unknown. If I wanted to watch a by-the-number piece like that, I'd pop Clash of the Titans in my DVD player.
Deus ex Machina kills many a film in its abrupt and lazy propensity to end a story. And this is what it's doing to Battlestar Galactica.
Of course, there's still a chance that the fourth and final season of the show could turn out to be the best conclusion to a science fiction show ever, but given the decline in quality evident since Season 2, and the rise in laziness evident since Season 3, what are the odds of that?
I'm guessing slim-to-none.
Here's hoping that some up-and-coming television writers are already preparing the next incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, because this one is leaving too many bad tastes in my mouth.
It was, without doubt, one of the hardest-working shows with one of the hardest-working writing staffs at the time.
And then, at the end of Season Two, the unthinkable happened: the incongruous "One Year Later."
An obvious gimmick for a writing staff who seemed to be getting tired of the concept. Tired? How the Hell was this possible? The writers had barely even scratched the surface of the depth the show's premise offered. And yet, there it was... in our face, slapping as hard as it could. For those familiar with the much-maligned term "jumped the shark," this is when our beloved show jumped the battlestar.
One year later? One year of character development, unfinished storylines, plot progressions, and a clear change in direction of the show. Some fans (mostly fanboys and fangirls) loved it. Of course they would... these are the same people who loved the new Star Wars trilogy. Their standards are so low, they're the reason the Stargate shows lasted as long as they did.
Oh, Season Three started with a bang, I'll admit, but one full of inconsistencies, larger plot-holes, and a definite change in tone from the "realistic, naturalistic" science fiction promised by the show creators to an unrealistic, clearly contrived show that most casual fans find hard to care about. Don't believe me? Check the steady decline in ratings since the first season.
Sure, David Eick, one of the two show-runners, wanted to try out his horrible and horrifying remake of Bionic Woman, and Ronald Moore, the other show-runner and one of the only reasons the Star Trek franchise maintained quality for as long as it did, had his eye on silver screen projects. But this is my point: it was like they wanted to quit Battlestar Galactica in order to pursue their ultimate goal of being television and film powerhouses. I can't fault them for that, but I can fault them for not handing over the reigns of the once uber-great Battlestar Galactica to other writer-producers to keep the show going for more than four seasons. After all, that was how Ronald Moore got his start, by being handed the reigns of someone else's pet project. Perhaps his vanity got in the way of him doing the same for someone else.
No, not perhaps. That's exactly what happened.
Where's my proof? Well, just take a look at the silly "Final Five" Cylon concept. Initially, we were led to believe that there were 12 "human" Cylons, infiltrated in the RTF and causing all sorts of problems. Eventually, only 7 of those Cylons were revealed, leaving us wondering who the last 5 were. But, instead of drawing it out, keeping us guessing until the moment the RTF finds Earth, the writers decided to ret-con their own "history" and make the "Final Five" a group of prophetic not-quite-Cylon beings who seem to be involved in the overall machinations of the universe. Four of those Cylons were revealed to be human characters we've been following for quite some time now... human characters whose histories preclude them from being Cylons, hence, the ret-con. It was, to say the least, one of the cheapest shots taken at an audience since Rosebud was revealed to be a sled. Only Rosebud had a reason behind it... Battlestar Galactica's was simply a case of writers wanting to hurry to a finale.
So, here we are, watching a show that was once about a band of humans doing everything they could to survive in a situation that did not want them to survive, and is now about a band of humans being used as pawns in a prophetic chess-match between players whose identities are still unknown. If I wanted to watch a by-the-number piece like that, I'd pop Clash of the Titans in my DVD player.
Deus ex Machina kills many a film in its abrupt and lazy propensity to end a story. And this is what it's doing to Battlestar Galactica.
Of course, there's still a chance that the fourth and final season of the show could turn out to be the best conclusion to a science fiction show ever, but given the decline in quality evident since Season 2, and the rise in laziness evident since Season 3, what are the odds of that?
I'm guessing slim-to-none.
Here's hoping that some up-and-coming television writers are already preparing the next incarnation of Battlestar Galactica, because this one is leaving too many bad tastes in my mouth.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Realistic Resolutions for the New Year
New Year's resolutions are bunk. We all know that. Hell, anyone checking at my resolutions for 2007 would know that I didn't keep any of them.
So, this year, I'm going to make some that I know I can keep.
1. I resolve to eat lots of food, ignoring any possible health risks caused by said food.
2. I resolve to pet my cats and dogs, even while neglecting their desire to go for long walks.
3. I resolve to imbibe in alcohol, smoke an occasional cigarette, and throw up once or twice.
4. I resolve to watch a lot of movies, keep up with certain television series, and play video games when I have the time.
5. I resolve to cuss out someone who insults me, making them feel really small and really stupid.
6. I resolve to waste a lot of time on the Internet, remaining oblivious to the fact that there are other, more productive, tasks that require my attention.
7. I resolve to drive on the highways like they are my highways, acting as though the rest of the drivers out there are merely borrowing my road space.
8. I resolve to forget birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions due to my own self-centered and narcissistic tendencies.
9. I resolve to spend more money than I should, buy more things than I need, and deplete my savings in the name of fun.
There... that's better.
So, this year, I'm going to make some that I know I can keep.
1. I resolve to eat lots of food, ignoring any possible health risks caused by said food.
2. I resolve to pet my cats and dogs, even while neglecting their desire to go for long walks.
3. I resolve to imbibe in alcohol, smoke an occasional cigarette, and throw up once or twice.
4. I resolve to watch a lot of movies, keep up with certain television series, and play video games when I have the time.
5. I resolve to cuss out someone who insults me, making them feel really small and really stupid.
6. I resolve to waste a lot of time on the Internet, remaining oblivious to the fact that there are other, more productive, tasks that require my attention.
7. I resolve to drive on the highways like they are my highways, acting as though the rest of the drivers out there are merely borrowing my road space.
8. I resolve to forget birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions due to my own self-centered and narcissistic tendencies.
9. I resolve to spend more money than I should, buy more things than I need, and deplete my savings in the name of fun.
There... that's better.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
The Fall 2007 Television Season: More Shows
Oops. I'm an idiot. I already missed one show in my last blog (Pushing Daisies), and had to add it later, but I just realized that there are more that I can rant or rave about.
My bad.
Chuck - admittedly, I was initially apprehensive about watching this one. It just seemed so... silly. The good news is that it is so silly, but that's the point. Like Pushing Daisies, though a bit more contemporary, this show is irreverent fun.
Meerkat Manor - Animal Planet's highest rated show. It's got everything you want to see: murder, theft, sex, war, and even infanticide. And all with rodents. Sadly, Sean Astin's narration is horrible, but the lives of these animals speaks for themselves.
Okay, so there were only two. Sue me. Post some shows you've been watching, and maybe I'll give them a shot.
My bad.
Chuck - admittedly, I was initially apprehensive about watching this one. It just seemed so... silly. The good news is that it is so silly, but that's the point. Like Pushing Daisies, though a bit more contemporary, this show is irreverent fun.
Meerkat Manor - Animal Planet's highest rated show. It's got everything you want to see: murder, theft, sex, war, and even infanticide. And all with rodents. Sadly, Sean Astin's narration is horrible, but the lives of these animals speaks for themselves.
Okay, so there were only two. Sue me. Post some shows you've been watching, and maybe I'll give them a shot.
Monday, December 3, 2007
The Fall 2007 Television Season: an Update
Now that we're moving into the mid-season breaks, it's easier to call which shows have it, and which ones don't.
Obviously, fan favorites such as Lost and 24 have yet to return, so I won't be offering any conjecture on those.
Well, I'm tired, so let's just run through this, shall we?
Prison Break - still well-acted and fairly well-written, it's becoming painfully obvious that the gimmick is up. I'll keep watching, though, if only to see where it goes. New viewers might get a kick of it, and loyal fanboys (and girls) will obviously remain loyal, but there's not much here for the casual viewer to latch onto.
Heroes - despite a slow, agonizing start to its second season, the show has finally picked back up and is back to its first season quality.
Bionic Woman - is officially banned from my television.
Moonlight - I gave up on this a while ago, but happened to catch the last episode. It appears that the plot has evolved into something engaging. Unfortunately, poor production values and crap acting are still hampering this great concept. Jury's still out on whether or not I jump back into this one.
House - still the best character on television, and though I'm sad to see the "who gets hired?" subplot go, I'm looking forward to the show's Spring return.
The Unit - finding its way, though given that it's in its third season, it should have done that about 30 episodes ago. Military aficionados will enjoy this, even though military inaccuracies still frequent the series far too often.
Life - best new show on television. Period.
Journeyman - started off good (if a little slow), and keeps getting better and better. It'll be a shame if continued poor ratings forces NBC to ax this one.
K-Ville - another show still finding its way. It's a competent series, but is missing that something extra to make it truly a good one. I doubt it'll last long enough, but it'd be nice if the show finds a direction to go in. As it stands now, this is a show that belongs in the 1980s.
Kitchen Nightmares - yes, it's a reality show, but it's a damned good one. The only slight against it is that it pays less attention to the actual restaurant industry, and more attention to the "drama" inherent to the people working in a failing restaurant. The British version managed to do both, so why can't the American version follow suit?
Battlestar Galactica: Razor - cheesy. Bad characterization, bad plot progression, decent writing. As far as being the actual Battlestar Galactica Season 4 setup? Bad, bad idea.
Pushing Daisies - odd, quirky, and totally engaging in a camp kind of way. In this case, however, camp is a good thing. A good example of a television series simply having fun with itself, and not at the expense of its viewers.
Anyway, the SciFi remake of The Wizard of Oz, Tin Man, is on my DVR. More on that to follow.
Obviously, fan favorites such as Lost and 24 have yet to return, so I won't be offering any conjecture on those.
Well, I'm tired, so let's just run through this, shall we?
Prison Break - still well-acted and fairly well-written, it's becoming painfully obvious that the gimmick is up. I'll keep watching, though, if only to see where it goes. New viewers might get a kick of it, and loyal fanboys (and girls) will obviously remain loyal, but there's not much here for the casual viewer to latch onto.
Heroes - despite a slow, agonizing start to its second season, the show has finally picked back up and is back to its first season quality.
Bionic Woman - is officially banned from my television.
Moonlight - I gave up on this a while ago, but happened to catch the last episode. It appears that the plot has evolved into something engaging. Unfortunately, poor production values and crap acting are still hampering this great concept. Jury's still out on whether or not I jump back into this one.
House - still the best character on television, and though I'm sad to see the "who gets hired?" subplot go, I'm looking forward to the show's Spring return.
The Unit - finding its way, though given that it's in its third season, it should have done that about 30 episodes ago. Military aficionados will enjoy this, even though military inaccuracies still frequent the series far too often.
Life - best new show on television. Period.
Journeyman - started off good (if a little slow), and keeps getting better and better. It'll be a shame if continued poor ratings forces NBC to ax this one.
K-Ville - another show still finding its way. It's a competent series, but is missing that something extra to make it truly a good one. I doubt it'll last long enough, but it'd be nice if the show finds a direction to go in. As it stands now, this is a show that belongs in the 1980s.
Kitchen Nightmares - yes, it's a reality show, but it's a damned good one. The only slight against it is that it pays less attention to the actual restaurant industry, and more attention to the "drama" inherent to the people working in a failing restaurant. The British version managed to do both, so why can't the American version follow suit?
Battlestar Galactica: Razor - cheesy. Bad characterization, bad plot progression, decent writing. As far as being the actual Battlestar Galactica Season 4 setup? Bad, bad idea.
Pushing Daisies - odd, quirky, and totally engaging in a camp kind of way. In this case, however, camp is a good thing. A good example of a television series simply having fun with itself, and not at the expense of its viewers.
Anyway, the SciFi remake of The Wizard of Oz, Tin Man, is on my DVR. More on that to follow.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
The Fall 2007 Television Season: a Quick Review
It's here, the new season, and there are some nice surprises lurking about the network primetime slots. Unfortunately, some of those surprises are bad ones.
The stalwarts are back, of course. And those who read this blog know I'm most likely referring to (and I am) shows like Prison Break, House, and Heroes (even though I'm not as impressed with Heroes as many of you are).
And then there's the newbies. Admittedly, I tend to stay away from ABC and CBS, with the exception of Lost and The Unit (a recent addition to my DVR list... it's gotten much, much better since the first season), but I decided to give a couple of new shows a try.
The ABC show I gave a whirl was Cavemen. I couldn't help it. My curiosity overcame my better judgement, and combined with the fact that I'm a fan of those GEICO commercials, I gave it a look... for all of four minutes. Stay the Hell away from this one, people. I'm not joking.
On CBS I decided to look into Moonlight. Good concept, similar to the classic (and ABC's piss-poor remake) Nightstalker, but pretty bad execution. The lead actor has a certain presence about him, but the rest of the cast is horrible. That's H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E. I'll give this one another go this weekend, but if there's no improvement past the pilot, it's off the "To Do" list.
The odd surprise this season is NBC. Now, I won't go into too much detail, but so far, I've added the near-great new shows Life and Journeyman to the list. Both are outstanding. I'm also watching Chuck, and while there's a certain charm to it, I'm still not entirely convinced. Still, I dig Adam Baldwin, so will give this another couple of weeks. Disappointing is the heavily-hyped Bionic Woman remake, helmed (and acted) by some of the Battlestar Galactica types, the show is an utter mess. Between the pilot and the second show there were already plot holes and sudden "characterization" changes. Expected from the BSG crew, the only thing Bionic Woman is convincing me of is that Katee Sackhoff (a decent actress) is utterly incapable of pulling off the "tough chick" role.
On Fox, the only thing I've watched is K-Ville, which despite a dull pilot, improves a little bit each week. At the rate it's going, it'll be a great show by the end of the season, or cancelled (which I'm betting on).
Anyway, I'm still pissed NBC pulled The Black Donnellys earlier this year, so I'm off to find the DVDs.
Vote Eastwood.
The stalwarts are back, of course. And those who read this blog know I'm most likely referring to (and I am) shows like Prison Break, House, and Heroes (even though I'm not as impressed with Heroes as many of you are).
And then there's the newbies. Admittedly, I tend to stay away from ABC and CBS, with the exception of Lost and The Unit (a recent addition to my DVR list... it's gotten much, much better since the first season), but I decided to give a couple of new shows a try.
The ABC show I gave a whirl was Cavemen. I couldn't help it. My curiosity overcame my better judgement, and combined with the fact that I'm a fan of those GEICO commercials, I gave it a look... for all of four minutes. Stay the Hell away from this one, people. I'm not joking.
On CBS I decided to look into Moonlight. Good concept, similar to the classic (and ABC's piss-poor remake) Nightstalker, but pretty bad execution. The lead actor has a certain presence about him, but the rest of the cast is horrible. That's H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E. I'll give this one another go this weekend, but if there's no improvement past the pilot, it's off the "To Do" list.
The odd surprise this season is NBC. Now, I won't go into too much detail, but so far, I've added the near-great new shows Life and Journeyman to the list. Both are outstanding. I'm also watching Chuck, and while there's a certain charm to it, I'm still not entirely convinced. Still, I dig Adam Baldwin, so will give this another couple of weeks. Disappointing is the heavily-hyped Bionic Woman remake, helmed (and acted) by some of the Battlestar Galactica types, the show is an utter mess. Between the pilot and the second show there were already plot holes and sudden "characterization" changes. Expected from the BSG crew, the only thing Bionic Woman is convincing me of is that Katee Sackhoff (a decent actress) is utterly incapable of pulling off the "tough chick" role.
On Fox, the only thing I've watched is K-Ville, which despite a dull pilot, improves a little bit each week. At the rate it's going, it'll be a great show by the end of the season, or cancelled (which I'm betting on).
Anyway, I'm still pissed NBC pulled The Black Donnellys earlier this year, so I'm off to find the DVDs.
Vote Eastwood.
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