06.30 The Sarah Connor Chronicles
07.30 NCIS
08.30 It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
09.00 Supernatural
10.00 The Larry Sanders Show
10.30 Son Of The Beach
The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Season 2, Episode 11. "Self Made Man" Another winner. A slice-of-life tale, taking into the activities of the characters between battles in the war. Derek, Jesse, Ellison, Catherine and Sarah are left out this week, but there are still many things to watch and savour:
Cameron. This episodes reveals what she does when the others are asleep: She sneaks off to a nearby college library and does research. She also appears to have bonded and formed a friendship (of sorts) with the night watchman! And it is fascinating to watch. Cameron is obviously using the guy, but she appears to have genuine 'concern' for him and his well-being. Yet, I don't trust her. At the end of the episode I half-expected her to put a bullet in him. It is this kind of complex characterization that makes TSCC such a joy to watch.
The story. The story is cool. But it takes a real leap of faith to make it work. It's awesome to think of Cameron being able to track the activities of this Terminator almost 100 years earlier, but you have to accept that he was photographed at just the right moment to capture what he was doing and you have to accept that she stumbled upon this picture and was able to figure out what it meant and track him down. It's way, way out there. But if you can take the leap and go along for the ride: it's a great tale.
The action. The battle at the end is great. Not just the action on-screen, but the whole setting and reasons for the battle are cool, too. As Cameron stalks the empty building looking for her prey, the camera angle's capitalise very nicely on Summer Glau's appealing... physique. Nice.
John and Riley. Again, I have to say that I love the character of Riley and her impact on John. She drags John to a party in this one. And we get see him as a bit of social misfit. This plots paints a dark and lonely picture of life for these two characters.
NCIS. Season 5, Episode 5. "Leap of Faith" NCIS is not like the other CBS crime procedurals. Witness the scene where Tony and McGee are waiting outside the office of the man they are supposed to be questioning. Tony has an embarrassing picture of McGee on his phone and - while left completely alone - the two men get into a long wrestling matching for possession of the phone. Eventually they are caught and have to identify themselves as NCIS agents on a case. Hilarious, and an example of why I love this show. It's fun.
Susan Kelechi Watson guests as a germophobe NCIS agent. Watching the others (particularly Tony) react to her quirks is hilarious. Best bit? Tony does a fake sneeze and sprinkles water (from a bottle) on top of her. To her horror and his own great amusement.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Season 3, Episode 9. "Sweet Dee's Dating a Retarded Person" Music is the obsession of the week, when everybody decides they want to be in a band. Not the same band, mind you, rather they set up competing bands. Competing bands that are awful. Awful is a delighful-to-watch sense. Best bit? It's almost impossible to pick one. But if I must, I'll go for Charlie Day singing Nightman.
Supernatural. Season 3, Episode 3. "Bad Day at Black Rock" 'I'm Batman' declares Dean at one stage in this delightful episode, the latest in a long line of very, very funny SN episodes.
The boys cross paths with a cursed object. One that grants the owner fantastic good luck. Until he gives it away... At that point, his luck turns bad. So bad that, eventually, it kills him. Sam has the object for a brief moment and it is stolen, meaning that his life is in danger. Dean chases the thief, while Sam waits in a motel room to stop him from falling over things, etc.
Lauren Cohan is the latest in a long line of very beautiful female guest stars. Her scenes with Dean are hilarious.
Sterling K. Brown returns to cause problems (from prison) and he's enlisted the fantastic Michael Massee to do his bidding. Great development.
With the boys dealing with a cursed object, for once, this one reminds me of the great Friday The 13th TV series. There is even what appears to be a shoutout to the show at one point, when the boys name the date on which the cursed object was created. Nice.
The Larry Sanders Show. Episode 2. "The Flirt Episode" With great roles in shows such as The Loop, Jesse Stone and My Boys, Mimi Rogers seems to cornered the market when it comes to playing sexually aggressive older ladies. Back when she was only 36, she played pretty much the same role in this wonderful episode of Larry Sanders. Mimi, as herself, is a guest on Larry's show. They flirt a lot on-air and it causes a lot of problems for Larry. Mimi is a delight.
Son Of The Beach. Episode 3. "Fanny and the Professor" Harmless sex jokes and robots. Robots?! Yes, this is the episode where Notch and the gang are fired by the Mayor and replaced by three identical robots. Notch doesn't cope well with unemployment and - within 24 hours - is found living homeless on the beach.
Highlight? The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Cameron)
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Yet Another TV Review Book
Yet Another Film Review Blog
A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Thur, Dec 4, 08 - Sarah Connor, NCIS, Always Sunny, Supernatural, Larry Sanders, Son Of The Beach
