07:00 The Greatest American Hero
08:00 Greek
09:00 Scrubs
10:00 The Hardy Boys
The Greatest American Hero. Episode 4. "Saturday On Sunset Boulevard" The relationship between Ralph and Bill is not the only reason for loving this series. It also has a lot of very inventive stories. And this is one of those. It starts off by showing us a Russan Defector and his wife on the run from both the FBI and the Russians. Meanwhile Bill Maxwell (in an effort to cover up the existence of the Super Suit) has flunked a Lie Detector Test and been (temporarily) booted out of the FBI until he comes clean about whatever secret he is hiding. Not deterred in the slightest, Bill ambushes Ralph and Pam on a romantic evening out and gets Ralph to break into FBI HQ and find out what's the biggest case on the books at the moment. His plan? Solve that case and ask the FBI to forget his Lie Detector Test. Which is what leads Bill, Ralph, Pam and Ralph's students to the couple on the run.
This is a great way to get our heroes into the story, and it's also a great way to involve Ralph's students in a way that makes sense. For once, all of the students are well written and interesting and
Greek. Episode 16. "Move On. Cartwrights" Hilarious. Rusty goes somewhat overboard when he meets a new girl, while Dale meets a girl who does exactly the same thing to him. Casey and Evan meet up and fight a few times and he finally starts to come to his senses, but is it too late? I honestly don't know whether to like Evan or not. Sometimes he seems pretty decent. Other times... not so much. Then there's Frannie... I don't know what to make of her. Great work from Tiffany Dupont.
Bottom line: Laugh-out-loud funny show, with great character-driven stories.
Scrubs. Season 7, Episode 4. "My Identity Crisis" Identity is at the core of this story. Carla's feels that she is losing hers, Cox isn't who he used to be and JD - finally - learns everyone's real names. Again, the subtext here is that JD is growing up.
The Hardy Boys. Season 3, Episode 8. "Defection to Paradise, Part Two" It ends with the most boring sea rescue every filmed in the history of televison, but - otherwise - this is a fine ending to the story started the previous week. Pamela Franklin is great as the Russian girl on the run, very sympathetic and vulnerable, but the acting honours go to Nehemiah Persoff for a great performance as the bad guy on her tail. It turns out that he's every bit as complex a man as it first appeared. His conversations with the Hardy's boss are like something from a John Le Carré novel: Dignified espionage with a undercurrent of threat. It is with his help, more than anyone else's, that Joe and Frank are able to get the girl out of harm's way. Definitely one of the best scripts ever used on the show. Not just for writing Joe and Frank as resourceful agents, but for a sophisticated take on the world of cold war politics.
Highlight? Greek.
Wed, Jun 18th, 2008 - Greatest American Hero, Greek, Scrubs, Hardy Boys
