Wednesday, October 8, 2008

TV Reviews for the Week of Sept. 28, 2008 Pt. 2

I’m so glad this show survived the writer’s strike. It’s delightfully quirky with great storytelling, great acting, and great ideas. A very succinct yet informative introduction gave us all the backstory we needed to know since it’s been, what, about 10 months since the last episode we saw? Did this have any episodes after last season’s writers’ strike was over? Regardless, it felt like the last episode was just last week. This episode was very bee centric and induced a couple of shivers; people covered in bees is just a creepy thing.
Okay, that was an awful crime scene. The writers of this show are just a smidge messed up I think. Other than that, this was a pretty forgettable episode. I say that because it is now only a day after watching the episode and I can’t remember any details.

Pretty violent week this week. Hodge is definitely my least favorite character on the show. Emotionless, he seems more like a robot than Reed does (and there’s a pretty humorous moment regarding Reed’s lifelikeness about half-way in). The divorce didn’t help make him sympathetic, since it was his fault. I guess the hearing problems from the carbomb are supposed to help with that. Not working.

CMD? Really? That’s awesome, as is everyone’s reaction. At first I thought the SAMCRO who was protecting him was Kid Rock, then I realized he wasn’t. Good story, huh? Chuck was the best thing about this episode, but we also learned an interesting fact about the ATF agent. And damn, if an OMC tells you to remove a tattoo, you remove the tattoo. You don’t want them to do it for you.

This is probably the most soap operaest show I watch, and I was also worried about it after the writers’ strike. The premiere seemed a bit more serious than episodes from last season, what with the death and then the arrest at the end of the show. There was a bit more wackiness last year, and I’m wondering if it’ll be back in the coming episodes, or if the show was retooled a bit.
I enjoyed the second episode more than the first, and it was all because of pigsquatch, or hogsquatch, or whatever the 800 lb. pig was called. Even when it’s not the funniest show on, it’s still got top-notch acting with strong guest stars. And here I thought Jerry Van Dyke was dead.

Oliver knew he was poisoned before coming to the party, or he instinctively knew his champagne was poisoned and by what. Either way, that’s some pretty stupid writing. Why go to the party if you already know you’re poisoned, or how did he know how long he’d have left if he was just poisoned? Whatever happened, we get to see Oliver’s transformation into the Green Arrow, and from what I know of his comic book origins (I’m not the biggest fan), I think it’s pretty close (minus Tess, of course) and if not, they at least got the main points.

It can’t be a coincidence that the scene in the diner was highly reminiscent of Back to the Future, and then there’s the obvious Delorean reference. I don’t know if Dean Van Halen is a better name than Calvin Kline. This was an excellent use of time travel. Dean learned about the hazards of changing the past, and while he tried, you can’t change something that has already happened. Plus, we got to see the secret origin of the Winchester family of hunters. Awesome.

I don’t know what I should feel worse about, the fact that I know about most of the sexual stuff that’s brought up in this show, or that I find it all incredibly hilarious. Then the obvious concussion and the wedding dress and the poppers. Oh crap that was a funny hour of TV.

Sci-Fi has had a couple of decent original shows, so I thought I’d give this one a try. I haven’t read anything about it, I’ve only seen a couple of very vague commercials, and the information guide doesn’t really give me all that much information. It’s a two hour premiere, so I hope it’s worth it. The main character looks a LOT like James Marsters, Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Brainiac from Smallville. I’m 90% sure it’s not (and a quick imdb.com search would verify it for me, but it’s late and I’m sleepy), but it’s eerie how much it looks like him. The flashes on various objects when the main character is doing his thing is annoying…and too much like when Shawn does it on Psyche. Okay, my curiosity got the better of me so I imdb’ed the show and was pretty confused. I then looked it up on Wikipedia and found out that the show was originally a series of webisodes. After some mediocre set-up, the show ended on a decent note. The special effects were very Sci-Fi Channel, but I expected that so it didn’t detract too much from the episode itself. I think I’m going to give it a few episode to really sink its claws in me. I’m interested to see what kind of creatures they end up going after or giving aid to.

Two episodes in one week. How could we get so lucky? I actually didn’t pay much attention to the case itself. I enjoy all of the character interactions. I especially enjoyed it when the female detective (I still haven’t learned her name yet) is putting the wire on the shrink. No need for an imagination when someone is standing there in nothing but her bra and panties. I lost all track of the show after that.

A riot breaking out at a Maroon 5 concert because a bunch of muscle-bound frat boys are going ga-ga over the band? No, I don’t buy it. I wonder how well appearances like this help bands that are already pretty well known. I only found out about Feist and Yael Naim because of their songs being used in Apple commercials, but I wouldn’t consider them as pretty well known.
Gee, how could I have forgotten this gem in Part 1 of this…well, last week’s reviews by the time this one got up. First off, when a guy on fire comes screaming into your tent on the beach, help the poor guy out. Throw something heavy at him to knock him the fuck down, then start tossing handfuls of sand on the guy to put the fire out. You’re on a beach for Christ’s sake. The only decent part of this show is all before the opening credits roll. You’ve usually got a crazy death (guy on fire) and a witty quote by one Lt. Horatio Caine. Glasses on, cue The Who, roll credits.

----------------
Listening to: Katy Perry - Self Inflicted
via FoxyTunes

3 comments:

Ana said...

I amazed. I think you watch more series than I do! *bowsdown*

I was bit disapointed with Pushing Daisies last week - I thought it was ...meh. and the whole thing with Olive in the convent? *rolls eyes*

Anonymous said...

Jerry Van Dyke is alive and doing well in central Arkansas. His house is about 20 minutes north of my parents house. He isn't the most gracious "celebrity" either. A couple of my friends and I were out at a restaurant one day and we saw his Rolls Royce sitting in the parking lot with the lights on. The license plate says LUTHER on it by the way. So anyways, we go in and tell him that his lights are on and he starts bitching to his wife about this and that, yadda yadda yadda, not even a damn thank you. He didn't even acknowledge our existence. Meh, whatever. Anyways, Luther is kicking it in Haskell, AR.

Rob Rosenblatt said...

That's kind of disappointing to learn. I guess the wrong brother was named Dick.