Friday, July 31st, 2009
07.30 Arrested Development
08.00 In Plain Sight
09.00 Burn Notice
10.00 Party Down
11.00 Dark Skies
01.00 Harvey Birdman
01.15 Harvey Birdman
Arrested Development. Season 2, Episode 7. "Switch Hitter" Baseball game.
Lots to love here. Several guest stars whose work I am a huge fan of: Ed Begley Jr., J.K. Simmons and Andy Richter. What an amazing guest cast.
Begley's character is used to make fun of alopecia. Only on Arrested Development. To be fair, some of the jokes are at the expense of the Bluth family's understanding of alopecia (particularly Gob) but the rest are flat out alopecia-is-funny gags. I love it.
I also love the whole Maeby-becomes-a-studio-executive storyline (which starts here). For two reasons: it is flat out hilarious and it takes pot shots at the stupidity of studio executives. I love stuff like that.
In Plain Sight. Season 2, Episode 11. "Jailbait" Father and daughter fighting, where dad is a crook in Witsec.
Weak. There are two twists in the story. The first is predictable (the daughter has fallen in love with the son of the man who killed her mother) and the second is unexpected (the death of the mother was deliberate, not accidental) but the whole story is uninvolving. It's 'too TV' for IPS. Neither the father nor the daughter are particularly likable/interesting so it's hard to invest/care.
Mary, meanwhile, finally says 'Yes' to her boyfriend's marriage proposal. I wasn't expecting that. Back when he made the proposal I was shocked that she said 'No'. But now that I understand Mary a bit better, I really want her to be with Marshall instead. I presume that that is where the show is heading?
Burn Notice. Season 3, Episode 6. "The Hunter" Kidnapped and hunted through the Everglades.
Another change-of-pace episode. In departure from formula Michael is tracked down by an old foe, abducted and - having made an escape - is chased through the Everglades by a team of mercenaries.
There's no client this week, but there is a character written in to fill the void: An arms dealer who has been kidnapped also and must run with Michael, though he and Michael have no sympathy for one another. It's an old dynamic, but it works well here.
As is always the case, the fun here is in watching Michael - a very smart good guy - outwit the bad guys using his brains not his brawn.
Party Down. Episode 9. "James Rolf High School Twentieth Reunion" Ron works his own high school reunion.
I prefer Jane Lynch, but if you are going to 'replace' her with someone, then Jennifer Coolidge is a good way to go. She gets a few good laughs, but this is Ron's episode. It's also another story-driven, and character-driven - episode. Ron's blind optimism, with regard to scoring with the hot lady from his high school, is dreadfully sad and incredibly hilarious in equal measure.
Kyle Bornheimer is underused in a brief cameo. Want to see more of this very funny guy!
Dark Skies. Episode 1. "The Awakening" John Loengard begins to discover that 20th century history as he knows it is a lie...
And aliens are behind it all. I was a huge fan of Dark Skies back in 1997 and was one of the people who campaigned to keep it alive for a second season. Watching it again, for the very first time in 12 years, I can see that it is fast moving and entertaining. I just can't decided - yet - if it's very good or not.
The story opens in the early 1960s with the arrival, in Washington D.C., of John Loengard and his girlfriend Kim Sayers as they each start out on their respective careers. Kim is sidelined for most of the movie as we follow John's investigations into Project Blue Book, the official government group that investigates UFO sightings.
John is threatened to back off. An action that makes no great sense but which, of course, only serves to make him dig all the harder. Luckily, one of the guys that ran him off the road and threatened him was the actual head of Majestic 12 - the Black Ops version of Project Blue Book. John tracks this man down... very easily. And is allowed entry into Majestic 12... very easily.
All of this is quite simplistic and conflict-free, but it does make for a fast pace. By the mid-way stage of the tale, John is working inside M12 as an agent and embroiled in all sorts of alien-related hijinks. As this wasn't enough, his girlfriend Kim now enters the story again and is promptly taken over by an alien.
In the final quarter of the movie, John has to risk all to save his lady, and - having done that - he and Kim go on the run. From Majestic 12, and the aliens.
Yes, things happen way too easily, but the pace is fast, Eric Close makes a great leading man and it's action-packed and very entertaining. The sixties-setting is nice and fresh, too. Plus the idea that the show will show us what really happened behind the news stories is a major hook for wanting to see more.
Harvey Birdman. Episode 6. "The Dabba Don" Fred Flintstone.
Fred, Barney and the gang appear... as mobsters. Only on Harvey Birdman...
This is a fast moving and very funny episode. It uses (a version of) The Sopranos theme to open the episode, showing Fred on his way to work. And things get even funnier from there. Harvey keeps missing the significance of threats, Thundarr appears as a leg-breaker and Judge Mightor meets a sad end. No great loss, I prefer Mentok.
Harvey Birdman. Episode 9. "X, The Exterminator" A hitman comes after Harvey.
With this episode, I feel, more than any other, the show emerges from under the gimmick of just being a show that uses old Hanna Barbera characters in an 'adult', irreverent way, and starts to flesh out it's own world and it's own characters. X is one of the best of these. A pathetic hitman who has never gotten over his decades-old vendetta.
Highlight? Burn Notice (another change-of-pace episode)
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