Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
09:00 NCIS
10:00 Tell Me You Love Me
NCIS. Season 4, Episode 5. It's always great fun watching NCIS. This episode opens with the discovery of a body, but after that it's fun and games all the way as the team investigate the crime. There's lots of bumping into one another, good-natured banter back and forth and a humourous case-of-the-week to solve. It seems that the victim was engaged to be married... to two different women. Virtually every scene puts a smile on your face as you watch the gang in action and - to cap it all - it is Ducky that pieces it all together, confronts the killer and solves the case.
Tell Me You Love Me. Episode 5. I've loved this show from the first episode, but - most of the time - it paints quite a bleak view of the relationships and can be quite a downer. This outing is a slight change of pace in that regard. The couple that are trying to have a baby spent most of the early episodes fighting with one another. For most of this episode Carolyn (wrongly) thinks she is pregnant so things are a bit smoother on the home front. Meanwhile the couple that have stopped having sex spent most of the early episodes not talking with one another. But Dave is now on board to a large degree. He's coming to therapy and he's willing to implement Dr. Foster's suggestions. Not that everything goes smoothly. He still makes mistakes and there is a lot of ground to cover.
Watching this, at home, can be frustrating. As an audience we have seen hundreds of love stories on TV. So, by and large, we know how TV Characters are supposed to fix their problems and get the marriage/relationship back on track. Watching Palek or Dave in action, I know exactly what I want them to do. Because - on other TV shows - they would be doing some things right and things would be looking good for the future. But, on this show, the characters don't know what to do and - while it can be frustrating to watch - if you like the characters then it makes for very very engrossing TV.
NCIS, Tell Me You Love Me
Back To You, Cavemen, Friday Night Lights, Tell Me You Love Me
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
05:30 Friday Night Lights
06:30 Tell Me You Love Me
11:30 Cavemen
12:00 Back To You
Friday Night Lights. Episode 18. Once again, we get an hour of solid family drama that has nothing much to do with football. Buddy Garrity (Brad Leland) moves in with the Taylor's after his marriage hits the rocks (his fault). At the end of the episode he gets a great speech from Coach Taylor about his misplaced priorities, i.e. football over marriage. It's a great scene, and helps cement why fans love Coach Taylor so much. Waverly (one of my favourite characters) stops taking her meds in this intallment, and Tim meets some nice new neighbours. But the stand-out moments in this episode are between Mrs Taylor and the town "bad girl" Tyra. Connie Britton & Adrianne Palicki are fantastic.
Tell Me You Love Me. Episode 4. Most of the time, on this show, we see two people talking for ages, then another two people talking, then back to the first couple again for more talking. It's a show (almost) without secondary characters. So it's great to see the show starting to mix things up a little for the first time. Dave and Palek cross paths. Briefly. But it really opens the show up. Dave meets May, and - later - Jamie meets May for the first time, when they enter therapy. So, now, for the first time in this series, the viewer has a better idea of how all these people fit together.
Cavemen. Episode 3. Finally! A very funny episode. Kim Director guests as Heather, a cavewoman, who (in the show's cleverest script so far) makes life hell for all three of the regulars. She dates one of them, flirts with another one and bullies the third repeatedly about calling a friend of hers for a date. It's impossible to decide which of the stories is the funniest. But, I think, poor Joel's mumbled attempts to explain things to his girlfriend is the episode highlight: "It's not a problem that I'm dating you, it's just a problem for dating Heather. [pause] No. Okay. That's not what I meant either." Closely followed by Andy telling Heather "I'm a gay man. I enjoy the gay lifestyle." to get her to leave him alone.
Back To You. Episode 4. The show finds a clever way to mix and match it's characters: carpooling. All plot lines are funny, and some of their co-workers notice that there's an attraction between Chuck & Kelly. A top-notch episode.
Highlight? Cavemen.
Cavemen, Cupid, Damages, House, Journeyman, My Boys, Tell Me You Love Me, The Big Bang Theory, The Closer
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
06:00 The Big Bang Theory
06:30 Damages
07:30 My Boys
08:00 The Closer
09:00 House
10:00 Journeyman
11:00 Cupid
12:00 Cavemen
12:30 Tell Me You Love Me
The Big Bang Theory. Episode 2. Watched it again. Very funny.
Damages. Episode 4. I've been watching this, recognising it as 'quality TV' but not really getting 'excited' about it. Until now. This outing had a lot of bluff and double-bluff. It had treachery, lies and double-lies. It had a nasty twist. It unspooled stories in three different timelines. And it turned my two least favourite characters into my favourites. Finally, for the first time since the show started, giving me two characters to care about. Not bad for one episode.
Anastasia Griffith (sister of Jamie Bamber) didn't impress me much in the pilot. Neither did Katie, her character. Until this episode. She was the complete focus of this story. Lying about what she saw, because her lover told her what he saw. And she trusted him. He was lying, setting her up. And - as a consequence - Katie had a pretty rough ride. It was rivetting to watch.
Noah Bean has impressed me even less, as her brother. Now, suddenly he has a storyline. Will he cheat on his girlfriend? And is this connected to the case? Everything else is. The idea that this poor guy is going to be murdered has been revealed to us, but now - maybe, because we start to see it play out - it starts to have poingnancy. I felt for the guy, like his trusting sister: a fly in a big mean web. And Bean played his temptation scenes brilliantly.
Or maybe I'm just excited because Damages is sharp contrast to fluff like Private Practice, Big Shots & Dirty Sexy Money. And watching all three over one week-end left me a tiny bit depressed about the quality of the new TV season. of course, Damages is dying in the ratings. Sigh.
My Boys. Episode 18. Two plots, both funny. PJ is contacted by an ex from a summer seven years, and she goes all 'girlie' at the mention of his name. Lots of laughs in that. Meanwhile, two of the Boys go into business together. Flawless.
The Closer. Season 3, Episode 12. Flashbacks/Flashforwards dominate this story as Brenda and the best dressed cops on TV try to track a murderer, while we also watch the court case that arises weeks/months later from the arrest. The show always has great plots, but we watch for the character stuff. Subtle looks and gestures, seating arrangements, sly digs, etc. make fans like myself squeal with glee and when Brenda finds out a secret from her own fiancé's past it is as painful to us as it is to her.
House. Season 4, Episode 2. Words fail me. How could House get any better? When it's already perfect, why would they tinker with it? Yet, tinker they did and... better it has gotten. House spends this episode with approximately 20 new team members. The sequence where they follow him through the hospital halls (a parody of the shot in the opening titles?) is simply hilarious. All of the new characters are insantly likable, and several of the new cast (Olivia Wilde, Carmen Argenziano, Anne Dudek, Heather Fox, Edi Gathegi, Kal Penn, Peter Jacobson) are worthy of being added to the regular cast. The case is as interesting as ever, and the only twist at the end is that House shows a softer side. That is a twist. Season 3 opened with some of the darkest stories ever. The ending to many episodes was bleak, and the main arc from early last season highlighted the worst possible side of House's nature. This year presents a different side to the character, and the show. What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a creative team who are very very confident about their creation. And, based on episodes like this, they have every right to be. I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens next week.
Journeyman. Episode 2. With Pushing Daisies and Terminator still ahead of us, my next favourite of the 2007 pilots has turned into The Best New Show On TV. Hands down. There is no competition. Journeyman presents a new twist on the idea of time travel, it (so far) has presented us with stories that have a nice little twist at the end, and (so far) it has done the novel thing of giving the hero a wife who supports him, even though she does not understand him. That's a twist for TV shows. The opening scenes where he disapeared while on a plane, leaving her to deal with the security people, was a high-point for me in the cementing of what this show will be about. Really about. The marrige.
Cupid. Episode 5. This has always been my least favourite episode of Cupid. I'm not even sure I have watched it since I taped it. I remember it as the episode where Trevor and Claire fight. Really fight. The one where he thinks she has betrayed him and set him up for commitment, due to his delusion that he is Cupid, The God Of Love. And, since I didn't enjoy such an artifical conflict, I've harboured ill feelings for the episode for the past decade.
Upon rewatching the darn thing, I'm prepared to amend my review somewhat. I still think Trevor overhearing Claire on her dictaphone is clumsy and 'TV' not 'real life'. But, the actual story of the episode (a girl - Lisa Loeb - goes back to see the boy she loved when she was 13) is sweet and honest, peppered with flashbacks for all the characters of their first loves. I'd forgotten that part of the episode. And how genuine all of the little stories were. Plus, I'd forgotten the excellent (and obvious) twist at the end of the main story.
Finally, it's great to see a young Paul Adelstein as comic relief.
Cavemen. Episode 1. The most-hated show on TV finally makes it to air. The pilot I watched during the summer has been re-cast and re-thought, but it is essentially the exact same show. Which means? Everyone alive hates it. Except me, I really like it.
While the show is lacking in the laughs-department, it is still clever and likable. Using Cavemen as a metaphor for racism is a good idea. The two leads are, I think, very good. And their characters are very well crafted and interesting. The brother (now recast) is still just The Joey: dumb and funny.
Tell Me You Love Me. Episode 4. It moves slower than any other show on TV. It is also more heartbreaking than any other show on TV. While Ally Walker still steals all the honours for me, I have to say the storyline where recently broken-up Jamie obsesses over her ex was the one that hit home most this time. Michelle Borth got her first chance to show Jamie's sympathetic side, and I loved it.
Highlight? House.
Back To You, Notes From The Underbelly, Tell Me You Love Me, NCIS
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
05:00 Back To You
05:30 Notes From The Underbelly
06:00 Tell Me You Love Me
09:00 NCIS
Back To You. Episode 1. Kelsey Grammar is back on TV. His new sit-com is standard fare, and it's funny. Kelsey Grammer & Fred Willard are both especially good. The rest of the cast are okay, but it will take a few weeks for them to hit their stride. I hope FOX gives them the chance to do it. I loved Stacked (from the same producers), and I can't understand why it didn't last longer. Sigh.
Notes From The Underbelly. Episode 1. Who would have thought you could turn pregnancy into a sit-com? But you can. This show proves it. It began last Spring with 8 half-hour episodes, and it follows the lives of a young couple who are expecting their first baby. Jennifer Westfeldt (who was in the first season of Two Guys And A Girl) is really rather good as the mother-to-be. I never liked her in Two Guys, but I'm completely smitten here. Her partner (Peter Cambor) is funny and likable and the whole thing was much, much better than I expected it to be.
Tell Me You Love Me. Episode 2. This outing is possibly every sadder than the first one, plus it gives us a better insight into the regular lives of the characters. I loved it. There are several long scenes where next to nothing actually happens. It's just the characters sitting around and thinking. I can see how this will be a huge turn-off for many viewers, but it's right up my alley. This cast makes it work. Particularly Ally Walker, who is fantastic. She's broken my heart two weeks in a row. Roll on week three!!
NCIS. Season 4, Episode 1. One of my favourite things about NCIS is the way the central characters interact with each other. They come across as a bunch of close friends who will do anything for one another when the chips are down. This episode plays up that side of things, with one of the regulars framed - and on the run - for a crime she didn't commit. Consequently, the rest of the team must pull out all the stops to get her name cleared. It's action-by-numbers and it's really, really good.
Best Show of the night? Tell Me You Love Me.
Tell Me You Love Me, Flash Gordon, State Of Mind
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
06:00 Tell Me You Love Me
07:00 Flash Gordon
10:00 State Of Mind
Tell Me You Love Me. Episode 1. Impressive opening episode to this new drama series about relationships. We are introduced to four couples and given a (very intimate) view of their lives and sex lives. It's a lot like watching Once And Again, but with graphic sex scenes! The cast are fantastic (particularly Ally Walker, who says so much with one look), the characters are likable, and the writing is painfully honest. It's extremely well-observed stuff, and I'm hooked.
Flash Gordon. Episode 4. The producers of this show got a lot of things wrong (casting, tone, setting, etc.) but they did get one thing right: they introduced us to the character of Baylin. This alien bounty-hunter, in exile here on Earth and helping Flash in his somewhat wishly-washy quest to find his father, is easily the best thing about the show. She's grumpy, she scowls at everyone, she's agressive, she climbs tall buildings at the merest provocation, she can really handle herself in a fight, she's swallows bombs (yes, she eats a bomb in this episode!) and she's sexy as all get up.
Pity the show build around her is so weak. This episode features some kind of morphing alien soldier coming to earth to kill scientists who worked on rift technology thirteen years ago. Why, exactly, Ming suddenly decides to pursue these scientists a this particular time is never dealt with. Neither is his reason for sending a morphing alien disguised as... Flash's long-lost father. You might think that he was sent in this manner to serve the story in some way. But, no, Flash and he never actually meet and - although Flash initially believes that this is his dad - by the time they first engage in gun battle he's already seen the alien do his morphing thing, so the father-aspect makes absolutely no sense.
But nothing in the episode makes sense. Ming sending the morphing soldier at all (never mind his odd choice of disguise) given that we learn in the closing seconds of the episode that he possesses a far superior method of retrieving things from Earth. Also, it seems that the entire future of the morphing-technology program depends on the success of this one soldier on this one mission. When the mission fails, Ming (in a very wishy-washy way, it must be said) orders the discontinuation of the entire program. Seems like a less-than-sound military decision. The failure of the mission having more to do with the fact that the soldier he sent is The Worst Shot Ever Seen In Any Motion Picture Or Television Series Or Comic Book. He continually misses Flash, Dale, Baylin and Zarkov when he shoots at them. He does, however, manage to hit things that are directly behind them! How do I know this, you ask? Well, given the poor FX it's hard to guage where exactly the lazer beams are going in any given scene, but - this I know for certain - things that are directly behind the heroes blow up when he shoots at them. It looks cool, but - c'mon - things that are directly behind them! Even more hilarious, later on, he shoots at Dale from close range and part of wall nowhere near her blows up. So, apparently Ming sent Mr. Magoo on the vital mission and then decided the morphing technology was at fault. Yeah...
There is also a lack of logic in the way Flash and Dale behave around her boyfriend. The actors playing the parts have zero chemistry, so there's no great belief in them as a couple. Flash and Baylin, however, have great chemistry (thanks to the casting) but there seems to be no push within the show to put them together. Yes, they've abandoned everything in the Flash Gordon mythology, but for some strange reason they are clinging to the idea of a Flash-Dale romance.
Anyway, I took a break from TV for a few hours after Flash Gordon. Not to go beat my head repeatedly against the wall, as you may think, but to go for a long walk, eat and converse with someone who doesn't even know there's a new Flash Gordon series. I've stuck with it for four episodes, but - I think - that may be as far as this passenger rides the train. We'll see.
State Of Mind. Episode 6. I love this show, but I was hoping they would continue to devote stories to the patients like they did in the opening episodes. Not so. This installment has three storylines. All are good, but they have nothing to do with psychiatry/therapy. It could be a show about lawyers or dentists at this stage. Heck, they could be aliens with morphing technology for the difference it makes.
Having said that, the stories this week were very, very good. One regular had to the deal with the posibility of becoming legal guardian to a nine year old, one regular had to deal with a father showing up while on the run from the law and - in the show's best storyline - one regular had to deal with a stalker. This plotline began in episode 4 and the cliffhanger to that episode was super creepy. Well, this episode had several scenes that went off the creep-o-meter. The confrontations between stalker and stalkee were rivetting. Genuinely scary.
But, my favourite show of the night was the opening episode of Tell Me You Love Me. Painful, quality drama.
