07.00 Scrubs
07.30 Dexter
08.30 Friday Night Lights
09.30 Prison Break
11.00 Flashpoint
12.00 Corner Gas
12.30 Californication
01.00 Entourage
01.30 Jason Of Star Command
02.00 Shazam!
Scrubs. Season 8, Episode 1. "My Jerks" Taylor Maddox takes over for Kelso, and JD deals with a bunch of annoying interns.
Except for a few in-jokes about the move to ABC, and a superb debut from Courteney Cox, it's business as usual at Sacred Heart. Scrubs has always been about serious stuff in the middle of zany stuff and - based on this season premier - the formula is intact.
Dexter. Season 3, Episode 12. "Do You Take Dexter Morgan?" Miguel has sent two people after Dexter... his brother and a psycho killer.
Satisfying ending to the third season. Now that Miguel is out of the picture, Dexter still has two foes to deal with. These foes were dealt with in different ways. And both were satisfying. Ramon and Dexter... sat down face to face and had a heartfelt conversation. Yes, there was some violence first (Ramon pulled a gun on Dexter at one point) but - to my surprise/delight - the storyline was resolved when Dexter reasoned with Ramon and allowed him to see the error of his ways.
Cool.
The storyline of the Skinner also came to a surprising conclusion. Dexter was taken hostage/prisoner and - not being an action-hero in the classic sense - I did not expect him to break free. Especially since his (newly-promoted) detective sister was on her way to rescue him. But, no, Dexter went all Jack Bauer on the bad guy and broke free. I wasn't expecting that. It was a bit "too TV" for a show like Dexter, and I hope they don't go there again, but it was a cool way to end the season.
Friday Night Lights. Season 3, Episode 13. "Tomorrow Blues" Flash-forward five months to the early Summer and everyone prepares to go their separate ways.
A perfect season ender. The idea of the jump forward five months is inspired, and allows for a great freedom in storytelling. A lot has happened in the five months we missed. The show jumps from character to character with ease, brings up to date with what has happened since we last saw them and tells us what each one is planning/hoping to do next.
It doesn't get much better than this.
Prison Break: The Final Break. "Free" Michael puts his final plan into action.
Prison Break leaves the air with an episode as good as any that it produced. The elements of a great PB episode are in place: Michael is cool, Michael and Alex are a united team with a strong bond/mutual trust and the storytelling cleverly misdirects us: We assume things that are not true and the episode uses that against us.
Alex gets lots of great screentime in this one, as do Gretchen and T-Bag. This is a fan-pleasing episode. And a good way to end the story.
Flashpoint. Episode 14. "Business As Usual" Three newly-homeless men go after the CEO that caused them to lose their money.
The Flashpoint formula is in place here: great story, compelling guest characters, superb guest actors, and lots and lots of tension leading to action scenes.
Jessica Steen joins the cast. Always a good thing.
Corner Gas. Season 5, Episode 14. "Contagious Fortune" Hank has Pink Eye, Oscar has forged Dog River Dollars and Karen has a mirror image: Davis.
Weak outing from the gang in Dog River. The Pink Eye story tries hard to be a spoof of Zombie movies but never quite reaches the heights. The Davis-copies-Karen-at-everything storyline is unfunny. Oscar raises the best laughs in the episode, but - this too - goes on for too long.
Californication. Season 2, Episode 3. "No Way to Treat a Lady" Hank hangs out with Lew, as he prepares to write his biography. Charlie follows Daisy onto a porn shoot.
The Hank stuff was curiously directionless this week. He just hung out and observed. Normally Hank is in motion and he's about something. Not in this episode. It's a little disappointing, but - I suppose - it's a different side to Hank. Judy Greer guests. Always good.
The Charlie-at-the-porn-shoot storyline was much better. Very funny and interesting. Is Charlie going to go from being a book agent to being a porn agent? That would be hilarious. Quite clever and deep. I love it.
Entourage. Season 3, Episode 4. "Guys and Doll" The 5th guy is still around and everyone (except Vince) is waiting and watching for him to foul things up.
Another good episode, showing what the guys are like when they are not 'themselves'. Dom throws everyone off. Except Vince. Eric and Ari find themselves agreeing.
Jason Of Star Command. Episode 4. "A Cry for Help" After the padding of the previous episode, this one has an abundance of activity. The clone sent by Dragos manages to render Space Academy defenseless and Dragos sends it spinning into a nearby star. Jason meets a hideous monster in the cells, but he removes it's bracelets and it turns into a beautiful princess (nice one, Jason) and together they are able to escape from Dragos (finally!) and fly to a nearby planetoid (where they must deal with earthquakes and so on).
Sid Haig and Craig Littler are wonderful to watch. Littler has his best episode here. He's 100% committed to, and very likable as, Jason.
I also love the music. If you watched any Filmation shows in the '70s you heard all of this music and it's great to hear it again.
Shazam! Episode 2. "The Brothers" Chad is blind and Danny, his older brother, overprotects him. But when Danny is injured by a snake, it falls to the blind boy to find his way to safety and rescue his brother.
It's still hokey but this second episode doesn't have the logic flaws and coincidences that the first episode had. You still have put your brain in neutral to enjoy it but, if you can, you will have a smile on your face. It's a storyline right from the pages of Little House On The Prairie and Lance Kerwin make a good guest star.
Billy Batson and Mentor show up to do their thing. I find the status quo of the series fascinating. The two guys driving around aimlessly, taking direction from animated gods in visions. Cryptic direction at that, since Hercules and the others does come right out and tell Billy exactly what he has to do. They hint and he has to reflect later and figure it all out for himself.
It's really odd. But oddly compelling.
Jackson Bostwick is great as Captain Marvel.
Highlight? Prison Break (as good as any episode that came before it)
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A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Sat, Jun 6, 09 - Scrubs, Dexter, FNL, Prison Break, Flashpoint, Corner Gas, Californication, Entourage, Jason Of Star Command, Shazam!
