Thursday, September 13th, 2007
10:00 Superboy
10:30 Seinfeld
11:00 My Boys
11:30 The Knights Of Prosperity
12:00 Greek
Superboy. Season 2, Episode 10. Superboy is a perfect example of what modern Flash Gordon could be. Although hampered by a low budget and limited production resources, this four-season gem from the early 90s frequently produced brilliant episodes and never fell short of being entertaining. It worked for three reasons: A great cast, big stories and story logic.
"Deadly Touch" is the tenth episode of season two. In it Lex Luthor disguises himself as a nun (trust me, it's funny) and lures Superboy to a fake break-down so he can bombard his body with energy. After this, Superboy's powers got out of control, the planet is in danger, and Lex blackmails the governor for a full-pardon.
Gerard Christopher is the second actor to play Superboy. He's pitch perfect in the part. In fact, he's my favourite screen Superman. To a large degree, the naming of the show "Superboy" was to escape copyright problems, and - in point of fact - what you get here is The Adventures Of Superman. And Christopher is spot-on as Superboy. It's a blast watching him play the Man of Steel. Likewise Sherman Howard is having a ball as Lex. His episodes are always hightlights of the series, and this one is no exception. The real star of the show, and the only person to appear in all 100 episodes is Stacy Haiduk. She only has two scenes in this episode, but the second one is a great one. Superboy is living in a lab, behind protective glass. Lana gets to visit him one last time, and it's an emotional visit.
Unlike Flash Gordon, where every episode seems to be about preventing murders (mundane TV fare) the typical Superboy story was large in scope. Deadly Touch has the planet in danger and governor held to ransom. Which brings me to my third criteia: logic. Lex's actions through-out the episode make perfect sense. The way he goes about his plot, and the way Superboy goes about thwarting it, make sense. It's great TV.
Seinfeld. Season 7 finale. The famous episode where George inadvertantly kills Susan. As Larry David says in the DVD extras, they hadn't killed anybody up to that point and he really felt that they should kill someone. So, Susan bit the dust. Is it in poor taste? Probably. Is it very funny. Definitely. And the final scene, George on the phone trying to arrange a date, before the funeral has taken place is truly one of the best-ever George moments.
My Boys. Episode 15. This episode is about breaking a winning streak, when PJ goes on a local TV show, totally sucks, and none of the Boys can tell her. I feel a little like the Boys... This is easily the weakest episode of the run. It wasn't funny, and there was nothing much to relate to. Pretty disappointing in a show who's strength is an abundance of 'hey-that-happened-to-me' moments.
The Knights Of Prosperity. Episode 9. Since the Knights have abandoned their plan to rob Mick Jagger, the show has really opened up. Donal Logue is very funny in this episode going uncover as Oswald Montecristo, world-famous architect. Logue's character gets sucked into a world of glamour and prestige that only a world-famous architect would know, and it takes a heart-felt speech in a toilet to bring him to his senses.
Greek. Episode 9. Friends fighting was the theme of this episode. Rusty and Dale fought over the room they share (because Rusty wanted some alone-time with the utterly fantastic Jen K), while Frannie and Casey fought over the title of Omega Chi Sweetheart. As usual with this show, there were a few good laughs and a few good character moments. Jen K gives Rusty a speech, at the end, about his friendship with Dale that puts her near the top of the All-Time Best TV Girlfriends list.
So, except for a dud My Boys, it was a great night of TV with Greek being the best show, thanks to Jen K.
Superboy, Seinfeld, My Boys, The Knights Of Prosperity, Greek
