05.30 Pushing Daisies
06.30 Kyle XY
07.30 Supernatural
12.00 Good Morning Miami
12.30 Newhart
01.00 Family Ties
Pushing Daisies. Season 2, Episode 10. "The Norwegians" Even more than usual, this episode hits the ground running at frantic pace. The first twenty minutes are mesmerising: the dialogue and cast are on fire. Seriously, this is some of the best PD stuff ever screened and some of the best TV screened all year.
Things slow a bit when The Norwegians show up, but this does not spoil enjoyment one little bit. As all the running plots converge upon one another it makes for one of the best episodes. You feel that it's all been building to stuff like this.
Orlando Jones, Michael Weaver and Ivana Milicevic are three of my favourite performers (particularly Ivana Milicevic, from her Mind Of The Married Man days) but they are swamped by the material and the excellence of the regular cast. This was an episode that needed no guests.
And that's about my only complaint about this episode of PD. There was too much goodness!!
Kyle XY. Season 2, Episode 18. "Between the Rack and a Hard Place" Another bottle show. The series does a lot of these: stories confined to one location (one standing set) and it always does them well.
It's Sunday at the place where Josh works, and Amanda has just gotten a job there. Naturally, Kyle stops by to see Amanda and so does everyone else. Good solid character work drives the episode. Jessi, in particular, is being really well handled by the writers. Everyone is pushing her away. We can understand why, but Jessi can't.
Where is it all leading?
Supernatural. Season 3, Episode 8. "A Very Supernatural Christmas" Another goofy story, but good character writing makes for a very good episode.
Dean and Sam go up against what appears to be a killer Santa, and it prompts Sam to think back to Christmas Eve, 1991, when the two boys were alone and he first found out that monsters were real.
The flashback scenes, and all the non-plot related scenes, between the brothers are wonderful. Ridge Canipe and Colin Ford are superb as the young Winchesters, all along in a bare location. It's a bleak image, yet - thanks to the way the brothers interact - it's a very heartwarming one.
The final scene, Dead and Sam celebrate Christmas in 2007 (in another bare motel room), is one of the most Christmassy things I've ever seen on TV. There's not false or silly about any of it. There's an abundance of love and family goodwill in that small room, as we watch these two young men swap small gifts, make chit-chat and watch football.
It feels real because lots of Christmases are just like that: small affairs shared by people who love each other very much.
Good Morning Miami. Episode 12. "Jake's Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire" One of the very best episodes. Light on comedy, but heavy on drama and heartbreak.
Jake gives Dylan a gift of a book, with his feelings written inside. But Gavin gets to the book first, and learns all about Jake's secret crush on his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Penny watches from the sidelines, and pines for Jake...
All four main characters are served well by the script. Gavin takes the revelation very well. He's not particularly nice to Jake in the closing moments, but it is understandable. Jake, of course, is crushed.
Poor guy.
Newhart. Episode 1. "In the Beginning..." Watching Bob Newhart and Tom Poston is bliss. Between them, they rack up 90% of the laughs in this opening episode. Newhart, of course, gets most of them. His comic timing is honed to perfection and it shows. Best bits? His phone conversation with the guest who has no window, his reading out of the letter to his wife and his speech at the very end. Every pause is perfection.
Family Ties. Episode 1. "Pilot" The first story about the Keatons is driven by the teenage son, Alex, and his relationship with a very right girl. Steven disapproves of a club her family goes to, and goes overboard in trying to rein Alex in.
And that's it. It's very simple. And very good. The family reads as real from the first time we see them, and the show scores major points by put a solid character spin on what could have been a naff story. You watch this and you have a clear idea exactly who Steven and Alex are and why they feel they do. The final scene is well written and well played.
It's not heavy on laughs, but the cast and story carry the episode and make it very entertaining.
Highlight? Pushing Daisies (the pacing of the first half was fantastic)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Yet Another TV Review Book
Yet Another Film Review Blog
A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Sun, Dec 21, 08 - Pushing Daisies, Kyle XY, Supernatural, Good Morning Miami, Newhart, Family Ties
