06:30 Z Rock
07:00 Friday Night Lights
08:00 Law And Order
09:00 Flashpoint
11:00 NewsRadio
11:30 Wings
Z Rock. Episode 1. Likeable, but not hilarious. This first episode lacks the bite of similar shows like Flight Of The Conchords, Entourage, etc. It's certainly amusing, but it ambles along without any sense of zest or purpose. Seems like this will be about a bunch of guys who (like the Conchords) can't seem to make it big, or get their big break. However this first episode paints them as very ordinary, very nice guys. And, as I see it, characters who fail in sit-coms are failing because of their own flaws. The more exaggerated the flaws are the more amusing we will find it. In theory. These guys aren't exactly flawed. What do they do to screw things up in the opening episode? Um, they overslept. Yes, it was after partying with some groupies but still... it's hardly a fatal character flaw, is it? Wanting to sleep with hot groupies?
Never mind me, I've over analysing. It was funny in places, so I will watch it again.
Friday Night Lights. Season 2, Episode 1. "Last Days of Summer" The Best Show On Television. Wonderful opening episode. Coach Taylor has been away from his family for a long time and it shows. The story deftly illustrates the impact his absence is having on the two women in his life: his wife in tears on the couch, his daughter ignoring the rules of the house. Without ever going over the top, the show shows us a family in pain. Lots of sadness in the Taylor household.
Julie is treating Matt like crap. Chasing an older boy and ignoring the one who loves her. To be fair to her, her boyfriend is being a bit of wimp about it and her own reasoning about why she is doing this (in the conversation with her father in the car) makes a whole lot of sense. It's not just me being fair to her, the script is fair to her. Her behaviour is that of a self-centered teen, yet the story allows us to feel for her and sympathise with her (even when she is being most unsympathetic).
Watching Coach Taylor suffer is also riveting. It's an age-old struggle: man wants to be at work to provide for family and wife wants man to be more attentive to her and the family. The best scene is probably the one where Coach sees how Buddy's family has fallen apart. Is it a warning signal? You bet it is!
Tyra and Landry are much closer now. It's a situation we've seen a lot of times before, but I'm utterly charmed by it all over again. The ending of the ending of the episode proved controversial when it first aired (Landry kills someone in a fight to protect Tyra). Fans didn't seem to like it. I do. I agree that it's a bit too sensational (and 'TV') for a such a low-key and realistic television show. I'm invested in these characters. St. Elsewhere was about intimate quite moments between very real people, too. And it often went way over the top and never lost it's touch. I have faith in Friday Night Lights to do the same.
Law And Order. Season 18, Episode 6. "Political Animal" The show often sends it's detectives down the wrong path for much of their investigation. This is one of those times. Three victims and the guys investigate the wrong one for the first third of the episode. It's a device, I suppose, to tell two stories and - more importantly - allow the 'main storyline' to occupy as much time as it needs without any padding. So, in this episode we get to see the story of a politician who is secretly gay and living a double life. And, once the real motive/killer is found, we switch to the story of con-man working amid the politicians of New York. He's a fascinating character and it's a fascinating episode. John Ortiz gives a stunning performance as the deluding (and deluded) central character, and the episode gives us a fascinating insight into his mindset.
Flashpoint. Episode 6. "Attention Shoppers" Wow. The best episode so far. The show is operating in 'A+" territory with aplomb. It's such a clever idea, to reinvent SWAT and do it as character-based drama with tear-jerking stories every week. Sarah Gadon is wonderful as the girl at the centre of this story: confused, alone and on the run. Amy Jo Johnson is just as superb as the team member who does the most to try and get the girl out alive. Indeed, it's a great cast all around with all the regulars and guest being nothing short of superb. Kristin Fairlie, for instance, was a really hateful baddie. Great work.
The episode opens, as always, with snippet of things at crisis point and the we flashback a few hours and watch the girl in the middle of it all and see how things got so bad for her. It's a riveting opening few minutes as the writers skillfully paint a picture of who this girl is and give us a million reasons to care about her. Things go crazy and - after pausing for the best opening theme on TV at the moment - after that we watch the team come in a try and find the girl in a mall full of scared shoppers.
I love the way the show finds subtle ways to show us that Jules is part of the team yet separate from it, due to her gender. She is alone in her locker-room while the guys share the camaraderie of the men's locker room. Yet, in the closing moments of the episode, as she walks across the street to re-join her team we see them all waiting for her (one even throws his arm around her) and we know for a fact that she is one of them. The episode ends with another music montage and - as ever - it's class.
I watched this with a group and we were all spellbound. Breathless, with - maybe - a tear or two in the corner of our eyes as we watched Jules try and save the girl's life. The beauty of this show is that some week's the give you a happy ending and some week's the give you a sad ending. So, now, after six week's we don't know anymore if the person we like will live or die. It makes for great storytelling.
Flashpoint is easily one of the very best shows on TV right now.
NewsRadio. Season 2, Episode 19. "Presence" Lots of funny stuff in this one. Jimmy loses Bill in a poker game and Lisa steps in to win him back. Bill's sequence of odd good-byes to everyone is surely a series highlight and the chemistry between (newly broken up) Lisa and Dave is superb. Watching them fight back and forward is great comedy. As it the hair-brained scheme put together by Joe to spy on the poker game (a mini-cam inside a Star Wars doll sitting on the table). An example of the show at it's best.
Wings. Episode 5. "There Once Was a Girl from Nantucket" Newly-arrived Brian is trying to shake things up for everyone and get a social life going. He sets Joe up with a girl who has a bit of reputation and - on a double date - he manages to get Joe beaten up in a fist-fight with one of her ex-boyfriends. Megan Mullally (from god-awful Will & Grace) is very watchable in this and the episode is well worth watching for their farewell scene at the end. As well as Brian getting Joe into a fight. Basically it's Brian saying thing like: "Joe doesn't like your attitude" and the large angry man saying things like "Really, Joe, is that right?" while poor Joe looks on in dumbstruck terror. Hilarious.
Highlight? Flashpoint (heart-breaking)
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Mon, Sep 22, 08 - Z Rock, Friday Night Lights, Law & Order, Flashpoint, NewsRadio, Wings
