Thursday, October 18th, 2007
05:30 Friday Night Lights
06:30 Tell Me You Love Me
11:30 Cavemen
12:00 Back To You
Friday Night Lights. Episode 18. Once again, we get an hour of solid family drama that has nothing much to do with football. Buddy Garrity (Brad Leland) moves in with the Taylor's after his marriage hits the rocks (his fault). At the end of the episode he gets a great speech from Coach Taylor about his misplaced priorities, i.e. football over marriage. It's a great scene, and helps cement why fans love Coach Taylor so much. Waverly (one of my favourite characters) stops taking her meds in this intallment, and Tim meets some nice new neighbours. But the stand-out moments in this episode are between Mrs Taylor and the town "bad girl" Tyra. Connie Britton & Adrianne Palicki are fantastic.
Tell Me You Love Me. Episode 4. Most of the time, on this show, we see two people talking for ages, then another two people talking, then back to the first couple again for more talking. It's a show (almost) without secondary characters. So it's great to see the show starting to mix things up a little for the first time. Dave and Palek cross paths. Briefly. But it really opens the show up. Dave meets May, and - later - Jamie meets May for the first time, when they enter therapy. So, now, for the first time in this series, the viewer has a better idea of how all these people fit together.
Cavemen. Episode 3. Finally! A very funny episode. Kim Director guests as Heather, a cavewoman, who (in the show's cleverest script so far) makes life hell for all three of the regulars. She dates one of them, flirts with another one and bullies the third repeatedly about calling a friend of hers for a date. It's impossible to decide which of the stories is the funniest. But, I think, poor Joel's mumbled attempts to explain things to his girlfriend is the episode highlight: "It's not a problem that I'm dating you, it's just a problem for dating Heather. [pause] No. Okay. That's not what I meant either." Closely followed by Andy telling Heather "I'm a gay man. I enjoy the gay lifestyle." to get her to leave him alone.
Back To You. Episode 4. The show finds a clever way to mix and match it's characters: carpooling. All plot lines are funny, and some of their co-workers notice that there's an attraction between Chuck & Kelly. A top-notch episode.
Highlight? Cavemen.
Back To You, Cavemen, Friday Night Lights, Tell Me You Love Me
