Friends, Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Supernatural, The Incredible Hulk

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

05.00 Friends
05.30 Dexter
06.30 Friday Night Lights
07.30 Supernatural
11.00 The Incredible Hulk

Friends. Season 1, Episode 5. "The One with the East German Laundry Detergent" Ross & Rachel have a laundry date, Phoebe helps Chandler break up with Janice while Joey lies to Monica to get her to go on a double date.

Some good elements here. The Ross/Rachel storyline could be from any sitcom, but David Schwimmer does some great work and raises it above the ordinary.

The Joey/Monica storyline is much more character-driven and, while it could certainly appear on any other sitcom, it's very much in line with what Friends is about. It's also very funny.

The Chandler/Phoebe storyline is definitely a type of story unique to Friends, and it also happens to be very funny. Maggie Wheeler makes a great first impression as Janice and remains one of my all-time favourite Friends supporting players.

Dexter. Season 4, Episode 9. "Hungry Man" Thanksgiving.

A tension-filled hour unlike anything Dexter has done before. In fact, with the unrelenting tension it feels more like an episode of 24 than anything else.

Most of the scenes occur at the house of The Trinity Killer, as he gathers his family around for Thanksgiving dinner. But all is not well, and both Dexter and the viewer are watching and waiting for the eventual explosion.

The revelation that Trinity locks his teenage daughter in her own bedroom is one of the most horrific things they have shown on the series. Maybe because the usual horrors we see on Dexter are fantasy-based, and this one seems grounded in reality.

Truly great television.

Friday Night Lights. Season 4, Episode 5. "The Son" Funeral.

A mixed bag of an episode. Matt's reaction to his dad's death covers the sort of ground seen on lots of other shows, and only the performances of Zach Gilford and Aimee Teegarden make it way above average.

When the show is dealing with Tim Riggins, Vince Howard, Luke Cafferty or Jess Merriweather it is on much more solid ground.

Supernatural. Season 5, Episode 7. "The Curious Case Of Dean Winchester" Dean is old.

A solid case-of-the-week and three superb guest stars make for another great SN. Chad Everett is dream casting as an older version of Dean, while Pascale Hutton and Hal Ozsan bring surprising depth to the roles of the bad guys. Hal Ozsan is particularly good.

The Incredible Hulk. Episode 12. "The Waterfront Story"

One of the stronger season one stories. It's overshadowed by many similar/better stories later in the run, but this is still a strong hour of television.

In common with many season one stories, which didn't have the show's formula down pat, this one has a few notes of interest: it opens with the Hulk defeating some bad guys, which means it is one of the few Hulk episodes with three appearances from the big guy (assuming there are any others?), and - because of this - it opens with David already appearing to leave town. In fact, in many ways this could play like Part Two of a two-parter, when all the usual stuff of David getting involved in the lives of people is already out of the way (in an imaginary part one).

Sheila Larken makes a great guest star in this one, and she and Bill Bixby really convince you that these two people have been friends for several weeks and mean a lot to one another. It's easy to believe that Larken's character will be lost without David and the final scene (where she walks down the street after him, as he leaves forever, is easily one of the most heartbreaking things I've seen in many a month).

On the downside? Banner just happens to walk by and over-hear the bad guys having an incriminating discussion? C'mon, that's too easy...

Highlight? Dexter (truly great television)
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