07.30 30 Rock
08.00 Battlestar Galactica
09.00 Flashpoint
10.00 Law And Order
11.00 Wings
30 Rock. Season 3, Episode 8. "Flu Shot" If I ever doubt the genius of 30 Rock (and sometimes I do, because the early episodes of every season seem to suck) I must remind myself to watch the middle sequence of this episode, where Liz flees from flu sufferers and the whole thing is shot (and played) like a zombie movie.
That is so wonderful on so many levels.
Elsewhere...
This episode is a classic. Jack takes a hot nurse (and her elderly, senile patient) on a series of elaborate dates with a fantastic pay-off, while Jenna and Tracy have some of their best ever material.
Oh yeah and Dr. Spaceman (one of my favourite 30 Rock characters) makes an appearance.
Battlestar Galactica. Season 4, Episode 11. "Sometimes a Great Notion" I had to watch it again, for the performance of Kandyse McClure. She steals the episode.
This time round, I noticed the symmetry of the opening and closing scenes being the same: Tigh standing at the water.
And I still felt the palpable pain of thise people as their dreams lay crumbling at their feet.
Flashpoint. Episode 12. "Backwards Day" A woman hold her husband's mistress at knife-point.
It's still as strong as ever. This episode as more of an ensemble feel to it. Team members take different jobs and everybody has a say in what goes down. But, for the first time, there was no great sense of threat. The absense of a gun made everything the team did seem like an over-reaction. In other scenes, their caution was frustrating. The script made several attempts to establish that the knife was just as serious a threat as a handgun but, on this occasion, I was buying none of it.
It didn't mar my enjoyment, though. As ever, the story being told is strong.
Law And Order. Season 19, Episode 3. "Lost Boys" Another episode about religion.
Colm Meaney is great as the boo hiss evil bad guy and - despite our heroes best efforts - he gets exactly what he wants in the closing minutes. I love the fact that L&O is a show that can let the bad guys win, but why do they have to be such evil bastards when they do?
Wings. Season 2, Episode 8. "High Anxiety" The fact that the leads are dramatic actors not comedians pays huge divendends in an episode like this when Joe and Brian fight and Brian leaves the airline.
Wing generates it's stories in many ways. Of the recent episodes: number 5 and number 7 both dropped an oddball new character into the ensemble and watched what happened with different degrees of success: Kelly Connell's character was too one-dimensional to be very successful, while Sharon Barr's character was much more extreme and much funnier. When you generate your stories this way you are at the mercy of the character/actor and how well things click in front of the camera.
Wings also generates it's stories from the established nuts and bolts of the series: number 4 made great use of the ensemble group dynamic and number 6 used the established love triangle between Brian, Joe and Helen to generate laughs. Both episodes were very funny and very strong.
This one uses the same rivalry between Joe and Brian but takes things in a new direction, by making it deadly serious. The ongoing subtext of the whole series (Brian is irresponsible, and Joe chastises him) isn't funny at all. It's about two brothers who have conflict in their lives. A conflict that feels real, because it is real.
So, for this story, the actors play it for real. This whole episode is great, but it is in the final scene that Tim Daly and Steven Weber prove how good they really are. Laughs are few, but real emotions are evident in abundance and it's really great television.
Highlight? 30 Rock (zombies)
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A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Mon, Jan 19, 09 - 30 Rock, Battlestar Galactica, Flashpoint, Law And Order, Wings
