06:30 The Middleman
07:30 Kyle XY
08:30 Supernatural
12:00 Soap
01:00 Greg The Bunny
01:30 Good Morning Miami
The Middleman. Episode 4. "The Manicoid Teleportation Conundrum" I sit down to watch this show wondering, cheerfully, what stuff it is going to throw at me. So what is it this week? A colony of aliens, living on Earth, where they fit in by looking like victims of too-much plastic surgery, who are being hunted by an big-game hunter, who is a local TV celebrity in the Dr. Phil mold. Nope, not seen anything quite like that before!
Kyle XY. Season 2, Episode 11. "Hands on a Hybrid" Bit of a mixed bag, this one. I have no interest in the Andy-has-cancer storyline or where they are taking it. And the stuff with Hillary uncovering vital plot information in her cameraman's raw footage was genuinely awful. Simplistic and silly. Or to call a spade a spade: it was really bad. However, this was also the episode where Kyle read Jessi's mind and deduced that she was just like him. All of those scenes (and the scenes with Tom Foss being mind-probed) were very good.
Supernatural. Season 2, Episode 5. "Simon Said" Bit of a mixed bag, this one. But not evenly mixed. I'd call this one as 80% good and 20% bad. The case-of-the-week is terrific, and anything to do with the Roadhouse sucks. Even better/worse this episode gave two completely new reasons to hate the Roadhouse!
Dean and Sam find themselves up against a foe who can make people do whatever he tells them do (in one hilarious scene Dean cheerfully gives up his car). The story has a great cast and a nice twist. I knew there would be a twist, but I completely picked the wrong person. As a seasoned TV Viewer I knew from the start that the guy with the power wouldn't turn out to be the bad guy, but I totally love the way the brothers also suspected it. Right from the start, they were willing to debate whether the guy with the power was actually evil or not. Sure, each one of the brothers had his own reason for saying what he said, but - still - it's writing like this that makes them seem smart and keeps me interested. As I've said before there is nothing worse than a show where the viewer at home is always two steps ahead of the hero.
So, a good case, a good foe and a good climax.
Then there's the (stupid) Roadhouse. Now, instead of merely travelling from A to B when there is trouble, the boys travel to the Roadhouse to ask their computer geek friend where to go?! Stupid, stupid, stupid! That totally undermines the lead characters, and is a total step-back from what they were able to do back in Season One, where they were a force to be reckoned with: following clues around the country and getting information any way they could. Now, we get to see Sam sitting and telling some (annoying) character what to type into a computer. Impotent, much?
Plus, it reeks of the sort of silly re-vamp that made Knight Rider even worse in it's 4th season. Not only was KITT rebuilt by a gang of street-kids (give me a break) but now he could change shape and rush to the rescue. Suddenly he was always miles away for the climax of every episode and had to rush! to! the! rescue! Very exciting. But silly, considering he never needed to do that before. Now, suddenly, we find Dean and Sam asking Ash for directions. Huh? They never needed to do that before.
But, that is as nothing compared to the ill-conceived final scene: where the boys are scolded and forced to confess about what is going on with them. Yes, Eric Kripke, because there is nothing cooler than seeing our heroes being chastised by their "Mum". (Next season on 24! Jack Bauer's mother makes him apologise!).
Seriously, this show does not need an authority figure. It's so fundamentally wrong for the show that I wonder does the production company even fully understand it's appeal. Aside from the fact that it makes them less cool, the show is about orphans on the road. That's the frakkin' point of the show. Now, suddenly, they have a mum to worry about them and scold them. Yuck. That's a different show.
Luckily, this crap is kept to a minimum and the rest of the episode is stellar stuff. If I was a more obsessive fan, I might do a little DVD editing and remove the scenes with the Roadhouse from the episode for all future viewings.
Oh, one final thing: is the show now going for romance between Dean and Jo? I thought the hint was that she was his sister? Or am I missing something here. It doesn't help that Jensen Ackles and Alona Tal have zero on-screen chemistry.
Soap. "Episode 31" Burt is my favourite character (by a long, long mile) and the Burt/Mary romance/marriage makes them one of my favourite TV couples. Mary is back in school now, and her professor makes a pass at her. Watching Burt go crazy at the thought of losing his wife is both hilarious and genuinely sweet. Later, in an effort to help Danny deal with his crazy wife Elaine, Mary tells a lovely story that gives us even more reason to love her and Burt as a couple. Speaking of Elaine, she gets the episode's best scenes. When Burt tells her that Danny can't stand her I thought my heart would break for her. Poor kid. But, then, the dinner scene where she and Danny were nice to each other and we got to see the effect this had on her was wonderful.
Greg The Bunny. Episode 8. "Jimmy Drives Gil Crazy" I had totally forgotten about this episode. It's hilarious. Man, I had better re-think my views on this show. Sure, it had some lame episodes early on, but once it got rolling, it really got rolling. This is an inspired episode. Warren (who still gets all the best lines) sends Jimmy and Greg round to his house on a errand. Greg waits in the car, while Jimmy runs in. Inside he finds a naked girl swimming in Warren's pool. She explains that she has snuck in to skinny dip on her way from school. Turns out that she's an 18 year old catholic schoolgirl (complete with uniform) who is feeling a bit naughty and wants to experiment with video cameras. Watching Jimmy react to each of these wonderful revelations (eventually he cries tears of pure joy) is some of the funniest work Seth Green has ever done. Meanwhile, Greg has woken up to find that Warren's car has been stolen by Warren's neighbour Corey Feldman who has gotten into a prank war with Warren. Thing is, the police don't understand and they find themselves in a high-speed police chase. A televised police chase. Which, of course, is seen by everybody at work. Who assume that Jimmy has flipped out and is still driving Warren's car. Each of them in turn feels guilty for stuff they have said to Jimmy (while Alison just gets incredibly turned by the revelation that he is a bad boy) and Gil eventually runs off to join the chase and save his son. The same son who, at that exact moment, has been tied up by the Catholic School Girl and is being 'forced' to make various animal sounds while she films him.
As the episodes switches from location to location it just keeps getting funnier and the climax where Gil unwittingly declares his boundless love for Corey Feldman is a real classic. Funny because Feldman leaps from the car to reciprocate the love!
Good Morning Miami. Episode 4. "It Didn't Happen One Night" Now this is more like it. Jake accidentally causes a rift between Dylan and Gavin. So we get the hope that he'll hook up with her without the baggage of him seeming like a relationship destroying scumbag. Even better, when she shows up at his place - drunk and sad - he totally doesn't take advantage of her. His niceness, of course, is what sends her back to Gavin in the end but it's good to finally have an episode where we can like Jake and feel for him: in love with a girl he cannot have.
Highlight? Greg The Bunny. Hilarious.
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
07:30 Kyle XY
08:30 Supernatural
12:00 Soap
01:00 Greg The Bunny
01:30 Good Morning Miami
The Middleman. Episode 4. "The Manicoid Teleportation Conundrum" I sit down to watch this show wondering, cheerfully, what stuff it is going to throw at me. So what is it this week? A colony of aliens, living on Earth, where they fit in by looking like victims of too-much plastic surgery, who are being hunted by an big-game hunter, who is a local TV celebrity in the Dr. Phil mold. Nope, not seen anything quite like that before!
Kyle XY. Season 2, Episode 11. "Hands on a Hybrid" Bit of a mixed bag, this one. I have no interest in the Andy-has-cancer storyline or where they are taking it. And the stuff with Hillary uncovering vital plot information in her cameraman's raw footage was genuinely awful. Simplistic and silly. Or to call a spade a spade: it was really bad. However, this was also the episode where Kyle read Jessi's mind and deduced that she was just like him. All of those scenes (and the scenes with Tom Foss being mind-probed) were very good.
Supernatural. Season 2, Episode 5. "Simon Said" Bit of a mixed bag, this one. But not evenly mixed. I'd call this one as 80% good and 20% bad. The case-of-the-week is terrific, and anything to do with the Roadhouse sucks. Even better/worse this episode gave two completely new reasons to hate the Roadhouse!
Dean and Sam find themselves up against a foe who can make people do whatever he tells them do (in one hilarious scene Dean cheerfully gives up his car). The story has a great cast and a nice twist. I knew there would be a twist, but I completely picked the wrong person. As a seasoned TV Viewer I knew from the start that the guy with the power wouldn't turn out to be the bad guy, but I totally love the way the brothers also suspected it. Right from the start, they were willing to debate whether the guy with the power was actually evil or not. Sure, each one of the brothers had his own reason for saying what he said, but - still - it's writing like this that makes them seem smart and keeps me interested. As I've said before there is nothing worse than a show where the viewer at home is always two steps ahead of the hero.
So, a good case, a good foe and a good climax.
Then there's the (stupid) Roadhouse. Now, instead of merely travelling from A to B when there is trouble, the boys travel to the Roadhouse to ask their computer geek friend where to go?! Stupid, stupid, stupid! That totally undermines the lead characters, and is a total step-back from what they were able to do back in Season One, where they were a force to be reckoned with: following clues around the country and getting information any way they could. Now, we get to see Sam sitting and telling some (annoying) character what to type into a computer. Impotent, much?
Plus, it reeks of the sort of silly re-vamp that made Knight Rider even worse in it's 4th season. Not only was KITT rebuilt by a gang of street-kids (give me a break) but now he could change shape and rush to the rescue. Suddenly he was always miles away for the climax of every episode and had to rush! to! the! rescue! Very exciting. But silly, considering he never needed to do that before. Now, suddenly, we find Dean and Sam asking Ash for directions. Huh? They never needed to do that before.
But, that is as nothing compared to the ill-conceived final scene: where the boys are scolded and forced to confess about what is going on with them. Yes, Eric Kripke, because there is nothing cooler than seeing our heroes being chastised by their "Mum". (Next season on 24! Jack Bauer's mother makes him apologise!).
Seriously, this show does not need an authority figure. It's so fundamentally wrong for the show that I wonder does the production company even fully understand it's appeal. Aside from the fact that it makes them less cool, the show is about orphans on the road. That's the frakkin' point of the show. Now, suddenly, they have a mum to worry about them and scold them. Yuck. That's a different show.
Luckily, this crap is kept to a minimum and the rest of the episode is stellar stuff. If I was a more obsessive fan, I might do a little DVD editing and remove the scenes with the Roadhouse from the episode for all future viewings.
Oh, one final thing: is the show now going for romance between Dean and Jo? I thought the hint was that she was his sister? Or am I missing something here. It doesn't help that Jensen Ackles and Alona Tal have zero on-screen chemistry.
Soap. "Episode 31" Burt is my favourite character (by a long, long mile) and the Burt/Mary romance/marriage makes them one of my favourite TV couples. Mary is back in school now, and her professor makes a pass at her. Watching Burt go crazy at the thought of losing his wife is both hilarious and genuinely sweet. Later, in an effort to help Danny deal with his crazy wife Elaine, Mary tells a lovely story that gives us even more reason to love her and Burt as a couple. Speaking of Elaine, she gets the episode's best scenes. When Burt tells her that Danny can't stand her I thought my heart would break for her. Poor kid. But, then, the dinner scene where she and Danny were nice to each other and we got to see the effect this had on her was wonderful.
Greg The Bunny. Episode 8. "Jimmy Drives Gil Crazy" I had totally forgotten about this episode. It's hilarious. Man, I had better re-think my views on this show. Sure, it had some lame episodes early on, but once it got rolling, it really got rolling. This is an inspired episode. Warren (who still gets all the best lines) sends Jimmy and Greg round to his house on a errand. Greg waits in the car, while Jimmy runs in. Inside he finds a naked girl swimming in Warren's pool. She explains that she has snuck in to skinny dip on her way from school. Turns out that she's an 18 year old catholic schoolgirl (complete with uniform) who is feeling a bit naughty and wants to experiment with video cameras. Watching Jimmy react to each of these wonderful revelations (eventually he cries tears of pure joy) is some of the funniest work Seth Green has ever done. Meanwhile, Greg has woken up to find that Warren's car has been stolen by Warren's neighbour Corey Feldman who has gotten into a prank war with Warren. Thing is, the police don't understand and they find themselves in a high-speed police chase. A televised police chase. Which, of course, is seen by everybody at work. Who assume that Jimmy has flipped out and is still driving Warren's car. Each of them in turn feels guilty for stuff they have said to Jimmy (while Alison just gets incredibly turned by the revelation that he is a bad boy) and Gil eventually runs off to join the chase and save his son. The same son who, at that exact moment, has been tied up by the Catholic School Girl and is being 'forced' to make various animal sounds while she films him.
As the episodes switches from location to location it just keeps getting funnier and the climax where Gil unwittingly declares his boundless love for Corey Feldman is a real classic. Funny because Feldman leaps from the car to reciprocate the love!
Good Morning Miami. Episode 4. "It Didn't Happen One Night" Now this is more like it. Jake accidentally causes a rift between Dylan and Gavin. So we get the hope that he'll hook up with her without the baggage of him seeming like a relationship destroying scumbag. Even better, when she shows up at his place - drunk and sad - he totally doesn't take advantage of her. His niceness, of course, is what sends her back to Gavin in the end but it's good to finally have an episode where we can like Jake and feel for him: in love with a girl he cannot have.
Highlight? Greg The Bunny. Hilarious.
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
