Friday, October 12th, 2007
07:00 Carpoolers
07:30 Notes From The Underbelly
08:00 30 Rock
08:30 K-Ville
09:30 Kung Fu
10:30 Adventure Inc.
11:30 The Six Million Dollar Man
12:30 Aliens In America
Carpoolers. Episode 1. One of the carpoolers is intimidated when he thinks that his wife makes more money than him. The other three guys try lots of stuff to fix this, and it all culminates with them climbing through his kitchen window late one night to steal his new toaster. Hmm. Not sure what to make of this one. There were a few laughs, so I'll check out the second episode. See where it all goes.
Notes From The Underbelly. Episode 4. Another winning episode. Now that Lauren's pregnant, she's got bigger breasts, and Andrew is almost in heaven. "Almost", because she is nauseous most of the time, and there is zero chance of actually having sex. This simple idea generates a lot of laughs and leads to a great climax (so to speak) when Lauren and Andrew fight rush-hour traffic -seperately - in an effort to meet during one of the rare times that she is not feeling sick. Under it all, the writing makes it clear that Andrew is not just horny, he's utterly smitten with his wife and it's difficult for him being without her. This element is probably my favourite thing about the whole series: this guy isn't just 'in love' with his wife, he's simply adores her. All the time. Even when - being pregnant and all - her behaviour is somewhat odd. It's a cool element in a seriously cool show.
30 Rock. Season 2, Episode 2. Much as I love 30 Rock (and I'm so in love with Tina Fey at this stage that it's not even funny) I must admit that I've just not feeling "the vibe" this year. Whatever that means. Storylines for Jack, Tracy and Jenna totally fail to raise laughs. Usually Will Arnett or Chris Parnell would have me in stitches. Not this time. Disappointing.
K-Ville. Episode 3. Buddy Cop shows have done many things down through the years, but devoting the third episode to 'The Captain'?!! That's a new one on me. John Carroll Lynch gives a great performance and this outstanding episode gives us as much background and characterisation on him as the previous episodes did for the two cops who are the focus of the show. The story told is a superb cop thriller, and the all-action finale is one of the best I've seen outside of 24. Pretty much my favourite new show of 2007 at this stage.
Kung Fu. Episode 11. 1870s America, and Shaolin priest Kwai Chang Caine is searching for his brother. To this end, he breaks a large, violent, and mentally slow man out of prison and both of them are chased by an Army Tracker. Caine's influence on the supposed criminal (actually innocent of his crime) is strong, and by the end of the story he has mastered a large degree of self-control. He, however, is not able to help Caine much in his quest. At the end of the story, he has a chance to settle in a new town and make a fresh start but (in a genuinely affecting moment) he opts to live out his days in the wilderness instead: helping animals, avoiding people and foraging for food Caine has taught him. Wonderful stuff.
Adventure Inc. Episode 4. Duller than usual outing for professional treasure hunter Judson Cross and his team. Lots of bickering over boundaries and a fake psychic dominate the early part of the story. The second half has a few underwater scenes, but not much in the way of underwater action. This show seems to be more interesting when the team are killing bad-guys in some jungle or other.
The Six Million Dollar Man. Season 2, Episode 12. Some SMDM episodes are just boring case-of-the-week outings for Steve Austin, superhuman spy. And this is one of those. A woman is targeted for kidnap. Steve does a lot of running and jumping in this one, but accomplishes very little. He lets bad guys get away repeatedly, fails to stop an innocent getting killed and can't even jump high enough to grab a helicopter when the bad-guys get the girl near the end. There then follows a really goofy sequence when he tracks the kidnappers using tire tracks. Madness. First dud episode of the second season.
Aliens In America. Episode 1. They have added charisma-less Scott Patterson to the cast since I first saw this pilot, but it's still great.
Cheers? K-Ville.
Jeers? The Six Million Dollar Man.
30 Rock, Adventure Inc., Aliens In America, Carpoolers, K-Ville, Kung Fu, Notes From The Underbelly, The Six Million Dollar Man
