07.00 30 Rock
07.30 Dexter
08.30 Friday Night Lights
09.30 Prison Break
11.30 Flashpoint
01.00 Corner Gas
30 Rock. Season 3, Episode 21. "Mama Mia" Liz competes with Jenna, while Jack meets his dad.
If I was a TV character, I'd want Alan Alda as my TV dad. Wow. Great casting. They even had Stuart Margolin as a runner-up!
And Steve Buscemi appearing again as private eye Lenny.
Yet, the show isn't swamped by guest stars and some of the funniest lines/moments come from the regulars (particularly Liz). Liz's advice-from-The-Sims bit at the very start is a classic.
Dexter. Season 3, Episode 10. "Go Your Own Way" Dexter and Miguel have a battle of wits, as each tries to get the upper hand.
One of the best episodes of Dexter ever made. Since Dexter is all about stealth we don't normally get to see him in a battle of wits scenario. So this is a new departure for the show: Dexter in all-out war with somebody. And, to make it even better, the war is fought through polite conversation in front of lots of regular people.
Except for the confrontation at the very end. The big face-to-face on the rooftop. That was amazing. Great performances from both men. Jimmy Smits can go from likable to hateful in a single conversation. Talented guy. His considerable on-screen charisma doesn't work against him when he plays a villain.
Then there's Michael C. Hall. The confrontation on the rooftop is amazing. The energy levels of the two men are completely different. Smits' Miguel is yelling and screaming with passion and hatred, while Hall's Dexter is pure calm and disconnection in the middle of the storm. It's as if Hall wasn't even in the scene at all, but digitally added in later. I'm not sure how he did it, but he really pulled off something remarkable here.
Friday Night Lights. Season 3, Episode 10. "The Giving Tree" Eric finds his teenage daughter in bed with her boyfriend, Joe McCoy tries to keep his teenage son away from a potential girlfriend, Buddy loses the trust of his teenage daughter and Landry tells Tyra a few things about the way she uses him.
A powerful and wonderful episode. Except for the (weak) Tyla/Landry stuff this is all about parents and parenting: Buddy makes a mistake and tries to recover from it, Joe is a total jerk and Eric & Tami have to deal with Julie's growing up.
When Connie Britton started to cry I started to cry, too. I honestly couldn't hold back the tears (they came in a flood) as I watched Tami and Julie have 'the sex talk'. Connie Britton is amazing. That's a given. The sun rises every day, the earth is round and Connie Britton is amazing. Some things are just obvious. But, even so, I was still amazed by what she was able to do with this material. Likewise: Aimee Teegarden. They were both wonderful in this scene/story. It was such a minimalist moment (if that is the correct way of saying it). Very little dialogue, or acting, or anything. Just a wave of emotion being channeled by the actresses.
And there were the guys: Kyle Chandler and Zach Gilford were superb. Their big scene was a very different kind of scene, but nonetheless I feel like the show managed to capture something very real and portray it in a way that did it justice. And touched the heart.
Yet, for all the tears and emotion, there was lots about the Eric-finds-Julie-having-sex storyline that was hilariously funny. It provoked nervous giddy laughter on many occasions. Matt is usually at the center of these comedic moments (offering to meet Julie at the movies, or entering the Taylor household to meet Coach).
The McCoy family had it's share of drama in this episode. For me, the jury is still out on these characters. They seem a bit one-dimensional for a show like FNL. Hasn't Joe got anything else in his life, except his son's football career? Is that it for this guy? His wife has been even more bland until the final scenes of this episode, where she becomes much more interesting when it becomes clear that she's more concerned that their son have a girlfriend and a normal life.
The casting, however, is superb. D.W. Moffett, Janine Turner and Jeremy Sumpter are three of my favourite performers from previous projects and (except for Turner, who only really got a chance to shine with this episode) they have been having a good season.
The Buddy-loses-Lyla's-money storyline was just as heartfelt and heartbreaking as everything else in the episode.
Only the Tyra/Landry stuff left me lacking. Landry's right: she uses him. So what? Let's move on. Quickly. Tyra works best in storylines that have nothing to do with romantic cat and mouse. Put them together, or split them apart, but stop writing about it. Create a status quo. Leave it be. And write about Tyra's efforts to make something of her life. Please!
That aside, this was a special and wonderful episode of FNL.
Prison Break: The Final Break. "The Old Ball and Chain" Sara goes to prison.
Wow. If this is what they had planned for Season Five then we were in for a great ride, had it gone ahead. This hour of TV is one of the best that Prison Break has offered. The show finds clever ways to include established characters (like Krantz, T-Bag and Gretchen), introduces several great new characters (Daddy, Wheatley and Simms) and - with the new prison - creates a fascinating new milieu.
Lori Petty was superb. And so was her character. Sara is such a lovely and sweet person that it is a stroke of genius to send her to prison. Man, I wish this was a full season deal.
Flashpoint. Episode 13. "Between Heartbeats" The son of the guy shot in the pilot comes after Ed. And the team. And he's an expert in urban warfare.
This time the bad guy knows what he is doing, really knows what he is doing, and we get one of the most intense episodes of this great show.
One of the main regulars gets gunned down in this one. I really wasn't expecting that.
Corner Gas. Season 5, Episode 13. "Outside The Box" Brent and Karen set out to find out what Lacey is keeping in a mysterious box. Oscar and Wanda start to crash funerals. Food food. Meanwhile the rest of the regulars take sides as a call centre is proposed in town.
It starts off very strong (with one of the funniest every Hank scenes and one of the funniest ever pre-credits gags) but it runs out of steam well before the end. The exploits of Oscar and Wanda are particularly unfunny. The Hank/Davis stuff is mostly good, but goes nowhere. Only the story of the mysterious box keeps inventive and manages to deliver a nice punchline (a similar box in a similar small town in Scotland.)
Highlight? Friday Night Lights (Connie Britton)
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A Briefing With Michael: One Year Ago
Sat, May 30, 09 - 30 Rock, Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Prison Break, Flashpoint, Corner Gas,
