Arrow - The Episode where Slade kills Moira

Sorry if you googled this and I spoiled it for you, but the episode is 3 days old, and I have some questions about this whole plot stream. While the flashbacks throughout this series have allowed for what seems to be displayed insight so far, this latest episode seemed thrown together, and I sniffed some continuity issues.

Now, I'm really not one of those fans that pays close attention to each detail and harps over it, I don't have time for that, and can suspend disbelief pretty well. I have written about this before though. Sometimes, the writers will completely disregard any precedents set. I'm wondering if Arrow didn't get close to that this last week.

It was a good episode all around, with Roy going ballistic because of the mirakuru, and Slade now making his next move to continue destroying Oliver. Within the episode, Oliver's mom begins making 180 degree turns, she wants to drop out of the mayoral race to try and bring back Thea, then doesn't after Oliver talks to her and explains that maybe if she showed that she was ready to do good, Thea would come back. They also show flashbacks about Oliver getting some anonymous girl pregnant, and how Moira gave her $2 million to go away and tell Oliver that she lost the baby. (Yes, watch out for 7 year old baby Oliver to appear soon).

She also tells Oliver that she knows his secret, never really laid out, but truly implying that she knew he was the Arrow. He asked her when she knew, and she said something like, "For some time now, I think I knew.."

But hey, did she know when Diggle kidnapped her as the Arrow and threatened to kill Oliver if she didn't reveal her plans with Malcom? That wasn't too long ago, and that was a big plot swing.

This is the continuity of which I speak. It could have all been wrapped up with a line, " I was even willing to play along with your charade with diggle..", but of course there was no time for that, because by the end of the show, she gets skewered by Slade.

I can let it all go, it's fine. Her character had sort of run her course, but it wreaks of desperate on-the-ratings-bubble plot twists. In one episode, a main character flips, dies, and a phantom child is revealed. AS far as I know, this is a safely renewed, and supported, show.

Battlestar Galactica Cannot End Like This

Image via WikipediaIf you haven't seen the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica, and care, don't read this.

Otherwise, can you believe what they've gone and done?
Found earth? It's a husk, I'm guessing those remnants of buildings in the frozen foggy distance are New York and Manhattan. For a second, I thought that was the end, but then, thankfully, previews of a next episode.

The fact that the next episode does not air until next year, and that they called this latest episode a "mid-season" finale, does not in any way detract from how good it was. From the other column link, ti seems like everyone that follows this show is sued to the long layoffs between episodes, and the dysfunctional way of airing them that SciFi has.

This show, which I two years ago decided to catch up on with DVD's and start following week to week, continues to be riveting. I was prepared to be strung out for the entire season, as one by one, the final five were revealed, and then maybe, as the show ends, they set foot on earth, epic music plays to the cast stargazing to where they'd been from where they were always searching for.

But, NOPE. And I have no clue who the final Cylon is. I'm very impressed with this series and glad that I got on board to watch it crash land into it's final episodes, even if it will take them two or three years. Whatever happens, it won't be predictable.

This cast and writer's have earned the right to go out in style, but if there is not another season of this show, I can't see how they can end it anytime soon, in episode time, not actual time, which has already been extended. At least a spin-off is in order, or maybe a full-feature movie.

It's Summer, Time for Trash TV

Image via WikipediaWe already sat through the bad television of the writer's strike, but that doesn't mean that the summer course of garbage still won't be served. Looking to put up long hours of cheap programming for the dwindling summer eyeballs, the usual course of game shows and second tier reality shows.

Yes, I said Second Tier reality shows, coined that just now, all by myself, or from somewhere in my reading that I am unable to conjure. Until I hear different, that's my term. "America's Got Talent" defines second tier reality shows. This truly is the revived Gong Show. So bad, the girlfriend could watch it topless and I'm not going to be there.

Nearly as bad, Last Comic Standing, an at least decent premise as reality shows go, but so poorly handled that it's near unwatchable. They spend more time doing the obligational waiting line shots, something called the comedy booth, and backstage shots than they do with the stand up. And, they cut far too deep too fast, using celebrity judges that usually get it wrong.

In the same category as "America's Got Talent", "So You Think You Can Dance," is so bad I have to leave the immediate area if it is on. For some reason, the g/f can't get enough of the three judge, people backstabbing, formula. I get used up with it pretty quick.

I'm just happy that I have Rescue Me, a few more episodes of Battlestar Galactica, and Cubs Games to watch.

Smallville Season Finale - Preparing to be a Man

I got onto the Smallville bandwagon just recently, in the last couple years, but I've talked about that already.

Every sporadic Thursday, it almost quenches the thirst for all things comic book, and this season, it's been hitting closer to the mark. Over the past few weeks, as the CW seasons end, I have read a lot about Smallville. I hear Lex Luthor is leaving, I hear that next season they are bringing in some different villains, including Doomsday, the only one to kill Superman. As I don't read the ccomic anymore, I am not sure how DC danced around that particular comic stunt, but of course it is nothing new.

Wait, I was writing about Smallville, which is a television show which for many years kept a distance from the comic book Superman, building it's own mythology and it's own Clark Kent, not doing too terrible of a job either. Thing is, this season, they aren't really staying away from the comic book anymore. In fact, they keep bringing in more of the mythology only previously referred to in the comics. For one, in the episode two weeks ago, "Apocalypse," where Clark did his own version of "It's A Wonderful Life," time-traveling and jumping into a world in which he did not arrive from Krypton, he for the first time sported the classic reporter look, broad-rimmed glasses and all.

This last week, in the finale, more walls came down, and all signs were go that Clark Kent was going to quit being a watered down version of SuperBOY, and become a TV-version of Superman. It's risky, but I'll be tuning in.

Biggest Loser, the Drinking Game

I watch the Biggest Loser, yayaya, get over it I know I'm lame and so are the other thirty million people watching it to justify the two hour episodes and lengthened season. It's fun sometimes, it's light watching, and every once in a while, it gets me to work out.

But I found another reason to watch the damn show, it makes for an excellent drinking game. In the tradition of "Hi Bob," from the Bob Newhart show, and *S*M*A*S*H* , both fine drinking games with full rules at the links, and joined by so many more you won't believe it at The Webtender , which I found with a simple google search and appreciate and have bookmarked myself. We always did want to know the rules to "Asshole" and "President".

Still, watching the Biggest Loser this season, okay, Biggest Loser "Couples", I have noticed far more than the allowed amount of man-crying. These guys start tearing up every time they talk. It's annoying, but it's funny, and it's a drink if you're watching with beer and playing the brand new Biggest Loser Drinking Game.

Maybe making drinking games out of television shows is also lame, but that is what I thought of as I watched this show tonight, fortunately on DVR to push past all of the fluff, and in this show, there is a lot. Past seasons, I have always gotten disgusted with the competitors, because they can be the very most vile of all the reality show competitors. This season, at least the "Couples" portion, they have been much more likable, probably at least partially thru editing, but more likable. There is still the required amount of whining and sniping, but it's toned down.

What there is is an uncomfortable amount of man-crying, so, drink again and laugh at them, because they aren't going to stop any time soon.

Superman, the Geek Test, and the Big Bang Theory

Comic books are sometimes treated as acid tests for someone's geekiness. And in that regard, I'm a full-blown, throwback geek from the dark ages, golden era if you will, but not in any unhealthy way, so get off me. The funny thing about it, is the way that comics always worm their way into pop culture.

Jerry Seinfeld had a bit of a Superman obsession, and his takes with the animated Superman in American Express commercials were hilarious.

This season, a Monday night sitcom called the Big Bang Theory has a bit about Superman and several other geek type exchanges. One was brought up on another blog (thanks for reminding me guys)! They also directed me to the YoutTube clip below.


Read more about my comic book obsessions.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Yawnfest

After gushing over "Breaking Bad," I think it's time to weigh in on another show, but instead of being tucked away on a low exposure cable channel and receiving no real publicity, this show received the hype befitting one of Fox's can't miss supershows.

It mostly missed.
Not a Bionic Woman miss, but it started off bad enough, at a time when it had no viable competition and American Gladiators was ruling the world, that they are still waiting to hear if they are going to get renewed for next season.

Terminator's entire season consisted of only 9 shows, but they weren't utilized the wasy that "Breaking Bad" utilized their own. (And with this, I have made my last "Breaking Nad reference). Still, I thought that towards the end of the season, this show was starting to take form, and that it had gotten over the hump that most new shows, especially sci-fi based ones, need to get past to be able to continue. There just seems to be a point where the characters and storyline either demonstrate that there is enough to keep going, or not.

I can think of one good example, from years ago, "Nowhere Man," a show that I surely would have blogged about wholeheartedly if I was any more connected then than my AOL dial in and didn't spend all my time writing on Amazing Instant Stories. That show came out of the box much better than Terminator, but the writer's hit a wall, and about seven episodes in you knew it wasn't going to last. Then it was gone.

Terminator's run this year has been a little different, it didn't start off that well, despite the hype, the first few episodes were too predictaqble, and similar, as if they thought that they could get by trotting out the same parade of special effects every week and people would keep coming back.

Slowly, and in full stride by the season finale, they began to build back story, and develop some character, if only microscopically compared to ..,. well, you know. The teenage girl robot, Cameron, that was sent back to protect John Connor, is interesting if predictable, and provides most of the good possibilities for storylines coming up. They teased about her turning on everyone in then finale, but it didn't happen. If there is a next season I am sure that she will figure in prominently.

I have to admit, I slept through half the first few episodes, but really didn't miss anything, it was only the last two or three that started to get interesting enough to pay attention. Sorry Fox, thats just the truth. It was partially the addition of Brian Austin Green as another freedom fighter from the future joining the family, and partially character change and development, that brought me into the fold, if reluctantly. Along with others, according to the ratings

This show might simply have debuted under too harsh a spotlight. Battlestar Galactica took some time to find itself and it's audience, and maybe this show will too, next year.

Breaking Bad - Easily the Best of 2008

This has been a weird season of television, yes, mostly thanks to the writer's strike and the lack of selection of quality new programming, or just entertaining new programming. Still, I don't know the whole deal but this season seemed to break good for "Breaking Bad," though I have to believe that the writer's strike is responsible for the short, seven episode season.

Seven excellent episodes.
This picture, of the two partners in the last episode of the season, could easily be them surveying the distant competition in the television world.

It seems like I just discovered this series, and actually, it was not that long ago that I dove into it on my DVR hard rive and since then it has been a fast, fun, drive. Bryan Cranston has gone from a familiar curiosity to an actor that keeps me riveted for his performances as Walt Myers. His co-star, Aaron Paul, playing Jesse Pinkman, Walt's former student and new business partner
is keeping up, as are the rest of them, both with their performances and the writer's handling of them.

This is when television is good, every episode of this series has aimed high and hit the mark, and each character has evolved a little bit, in what is relatively a short period of time for a television. Yes, character development in a televison series that is not on HBO. They have dragged Dexter off of Showtime because of the dearth of programming, maybe this show should be next. This show outshines Dexter in it's uncensored Showtime version, I won't even watch the network television replay.

The show is entirely recapped on AMC's website, they have taken down the two first episodes, but are planning to replay the entire series almost immediately. I'm under the impression that it has caught fire, that maybe I'm not the only one to recognize how good it is.

Five Reasons to watch Dirt

Most of what I've read about Dirt has been bad, condemning it as a shallow, glitzy, grungy example of what it is ultimately trying to parody, and that is not all wrong. They aren't reinventing the prime-time drama here, or even the FX brand type, but it is worth at least a little storage space on your DVR hard drive.

1. First, and most, Don Konkey(Ian Hart), Lucy Spiller's(Courtney Cox) schizophrenic photographer. At first, I didn't want to buy into this whole plot device, but the performance sells it. He's so pathetic, and yet ruthless and funny, and dances around one hamburger of a line after another, getting the best of them. I'd like to hold this one out as the last nail in the coffin, but he is just too good. The guy's filmography reads like that of two or three different people, Dr. Watson, Lord Voltemort, John Lennon?
   
2. Girls, do you ever tire of watching smug, weak, arrogant men get emasculated? Well, Dirt has the character for you, sometimes the show seems like his personal dunking booth. Underage sex, inter-office dumping, and admitting his own humbling as stand-in editor in the season two opener, Brent Barrow(Jeffrey Nording) is a ready made whipping boy, just for you.
3. Gratuitous cleavage, could you expect anything less. Courtney Cox and ensemble do little jigs on the other side of the line that NYPD Blue long ago blurred and FX predecessors obliterated. A Courtney Cox masturbation scene and over the top tease during Jennifer Aniston's appearance as lesbian friend?? cemented the fact that the producers(Courtney and husband David Arquette) know where their bread is buttered. One revelation while researching this, Disney/ABC is the overseas distributor for this show.
   
4. Gaping. Just tune in to watch them skewer the latest celebutante calamity, breaking it down to what it really is, and expose the scavenging and manipulation. It's not poetry or pulitzer, but it can be fun.
5. Lucy Spiller, the heartless witch editor with a dysfunctional past and family to rival anyone, and a penchant for the weak, to exploit, and care for. Her new personal assistant, a panic attack inclined, nervous man who fired himself before Lucy hired him, illustrates the point. Yeah, well, "overstates" is a better description, but that is what this show does, and that is part of what makes it fun.
   

SNL - Two in a row was too much to expect

Last week's Saturday Night Live was good, good enough that I was almost eager for this week, a band, Wilco, that has always intrigued me, and young Ellen Page from Juno, I was optimistic. Saturday Night Live on a good run is like a Cubs winning streak, rare but not impossible, and something to behold. This week even started out with a bang, Hillary Clinton in a trademark brown pant suit, matching the one Amy Pohler had just worn in a skit, as Hillary.

It was one of the few moments of the broadcast, a huge let down from last week. I'm disappointed but I have figured out why.

The strike was good for them. Is it a coincidence that the first week back from a long layoff had skits full of bad television icons. Donald Trump, the creepy Jon Benet Ramsey guy, and the late night Riddler knockoff from the infomercials? This show was the fruit of a bunch of writers that had sat home and dredged the depths of popular culture, the foundation of Saturday Night Live's best production. That show was the product of writer's that rediscovered what got them their jobs that they were sitting out of. They came in with fresh ideas and bitter sarcasm, and pushed them through, then they spent a week on set, and had actors and producers in their faces, and they wrote skits like "Virginiaca."

The show wasn't a total disaster, but it was a significant downgrade. "The Obama Files," parts of weekend update, and an appearance by Rudy Guiliani all rose above the usual terrible fodder SNL has put out in recent years. In two weeks, there has been the equivalent of a year end compilation show. But honestly, half this show was about the elections, and most of the other half stank. Cheap laughs at the expense of media icons is good for a handful of material at best, after that, you can squeeze some laughs out of recycled former stars, like Tina Fey the first week, and lampooning your guest.

This week, Ellen Page, star of "Juno," which I haven't seen, fell far short. Yes, she's a teen age girl, but her Miley Cyrus impersonation was even annoying her partner in the skit. The little girl was a little over her head. Then again, that happens.

The regular cast has no excuse for putting out an episode that I am glad that I DVR'd so that I could skip through the bad stuff. I'm not a huge fan of political skits, but those were easily the best here. I'm hoping this week the writer's went home and watched some bad TV, read a lot of cheesy magazines, and ignored the voices all around them at the studio.

SNL - Feb 23 with Tina Fey

SNL isn't what it used to be, but I think our view of what it used to be is skewed. Despite the constantly playing archives on cable and satellite television, nobody remembers the really bad shows, hell, entire seasons. Even the golden era, with Akroyd, Belushi, Jane Curtin, and Gilda Radner, had it's clunkers and skits that you had to work to laugh at, really, who got the coneheads?

SNL is rarely all good, but it has a few skits or moments that strike a chord, and make us laugh, but they have never done it consistently. This years bunch, fresh off the writer's strike, had a lot of good moments Saturday night.

Starting off with a mock Obama/Clinton debate, we get a quick view of their latest version of the presidential candidates. Hillary Clinton's character was almost flattering, and Obama's very close. Reminding me of when Bush was new and they hadn't decided what about him to make fun of. Tina Fey was the hosst, making me think, "Did she leave the show?" And almost in answer, they bring the king of those, "Part of the show?/hosting the show?" quandaries, Steve Martin, in a quick skit during her monologue.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good the rest of the show went. The first fake commercial, about a birth control that limits periods to once a year, was as funny as any I remember, followed by decent skits and a good weekend update. Until the late skits, "I Drink Your Milkshake," and "Lady Business," this was running like one of the prime-time SNL compilation shows that makes you wonder where all the good skits came from over the last year. Usually, this show starts getting tired before the first musical break, this week, it stayed strong until the end. Even the bad skits could possibly hit a chord with someone, someone else.

It's nice to see SNL back.

Knight Rider - Back Until the End of the Writer Strike

I don't think they planned it that way, but the writer's strike was the only reason I watched the season premiere of "The Knight Rider," and the only reason I am here to scream into the electronic void, "WHY!!!!?????"

Really, I was around for the first run, in the demographic, and the odd collection of tribute blogs aside, this was bad television. David Hasselhoff was as cheesy as it gets, and Kit was the campy cool car book end to Herbie the Love Bug, but there was no reason to bring this story back.

Herbie got his own, bad, theatrical movie, but Kit just came back with a TV movie/pilot. I was assuming this was a pilot, but looking over web listings, it is billed as the Knight Rider Movie. I know I won't watch it anymore. One lap around this track was enough, clearly put to bed by Hasselhoff's cameo at the end. The car, now a Mustang, looked good. The show, on it's best merits, was an extended commercial.

Breaking Bad is good...

Benefitting from the writer's strike, and the extra chance at viewership afforded as one of the few new scripted shows, the new AMC show, Breaking Bad, is taking advantage. Bryan Cranston, former third banana on "Malcom and the Middle," as Walter White, is becoming my favorite new character on my favorite new show this year.

I have to admit that I may not have found this show if not for the lack of new shows on, or even gotten to it on my DVR Hard drive. I recorded it as a curiosity, and logged two episodes before we started watching. The last episode we watched right away, because this story, and these characters, especially Bryan Cranston as the school teacher gone wrong , are mesmerizing.

Bryan Cranston plays Walter White, who in the first episode, founds out he has terminal lung cancer and takes up cooking meth as a side business. His journey from beleaguered, over-whelmed everyman to meth-cooker is intriguing,
and not without consequences.

This story reminds me most of FX offerings like the Shield, and Rescue Me, there are no limits to where this story can go, already established in four episodes. No story line is safe, and there is no comfort bubble for the viewer to watch from.

The show avoids being predictable. In episode 3, Walter encounters an annoying lout at the bank after a particularly stressed exchange with his wife. All is in place for Walter to go off on this guy, as he had on a group of young punks in a department store in a previous episode, but he keeps cool. Still, you see him fuming beneath.

The whole scene is not left to be a red herring, because later in the show, after things have gotten even stickier, Walter re-encounters the jerk at a gas station. After the guy goes inside, he opens the hood of the expensive convertible the guy was driving, shorts out the battery with the handle of a window washer, at least it looked like that, and closes the hood. Momentarily, the car catches fire and blows up. This may not hold up on Mythbusters, but it was different enough, and not outside the curtain of believability.

This show is not easy watching, because as likable as Walter is, he is dismantling his life. The cast of supporting characters are far ranging, with vast potential for plot development. Walter's wife is constantly suspicious and nosy, with an enormous martyr His brother-in-law is a DEA agent, not coincidentally in charge of tracking down meth labs and dealers. His sister-in-law is a busy-body, sure to cluck her tongue at anything Walter does. and steadily judgemental.

The three of them hold court after the revelation of Walter's terminal illness as if he weren't even there and his wife begins her crusade for his cure without regard for Walter at all.

This is good writing, and acting, worth searching for on AMC.

• Breaking Bad Wiki
• TV Guide - Review
• AMC Main Site
  

Smallville has some Power Ranger Moments

When Smallville first came out, I didn't look into it enough to even know it was about Superman, truly, they didn't promote it like that in the beginning, but in handling it that way the show has been able to evolve, along with it's cast, into a mythology of it's own. As a teen soap opera it has succeeded, and as a TV show trying to capitalize on the success of comic-based movies, it has had moments. In the last couple of years, I know it has ascended from free-time fodder to schedule making viewing.

The last few years, they have slowly introduced other superheroes, the Flash, Cyborg, Green Arrow, Aquaman, and Black Canary, for starters. This last season they even had references to the Justice League, with the posed shot of them walking into the camera right from the cartoon's opening theme.

This last week was the return of Green Arrow and appearance of Black Canary. Maybe they were trying to geet out the big guns for the new show push, but it was reaching a little bit. The opening sequence, where Black Canary appears and faces off with Green Arrow, with some very hacked up CGI flying/cable descension, had some Power Ranger moments. It made my girlfriend laugh when she happened to walk into the room.

Suspension of disbelief and ridiculous aside, the slip seemed to be out of laziness, a little more care to take the special effects to the current level would have fixed most of it, but Black Canaries powers never translated to paper very well either.

I can respect that this show relies on straddling a few demographics, teenagers, comic book fans, and cartoon watching kids, and still enjoy it. In fact, I think the plot string it is following might be a lot more interesting than any the original Superman comic came up with. The handling of Bizarro Superman was very vanilla, but watchable, and if they are careful, the Justice League and DC comic character universe could be a well for the writers to continue to taste from, I'll keep watching.

Mythbusters - Jamie and Adam, Gods of the Suppressed Science Geek

Go to the street and ask people those job they would most like to do.
Many of them would espouse sports heroes, political icons, super-models, actors and actresses, but if you catch those others to the side, probably steering away from the crowd around the reporter, it would be the hosts of "Mythbusters" .

Adam Savage and Jamie Hyndeman, heading the crew of Mythbusters, have the job many of us only dream about. Not since the rash of Robot-war shows have I envied a bunch of geeks more. Special effects gurus, they use their expertise and the Discovery Channel's apparently growing budget, to blow things up, all in the context of dispelling urban and popular myths. It's frickin' poetic.

The show is equipped with an excellent supporting site, listing out the cast as well as well as summarizing all the covered myths. It is full of video and captures the humor and enthusiasm that saturates the hour-long episodes.

Five years and more than 82 episodes spell out the chord these closet scientists have struck, even sprouting a spin-off/copy-cat show this season called Smashlab. Smashlab , from the promos, seems to focus on one aspect of Mythbusters, one of it's strongest, but may lack the other essentials that have made it's forerunner so appealing, Jamie, Adam, and crew. I'm not exactly the first one on this bus, at least in writing, as any search will prove, for one, this site on blogspot, that gave me the nice picture of Mythbuster crew girl, Kari Byron, with Adam busted ogling her, and Jamie.

Adam is wacky, Jamie is serious, competent, and distant, the crew fills in around them and tackles their own projects. Usually, the blow-em-up stuff is left to Jamie and Adam while segments like "hot-sauce remedies" and are for the crew.

Tin Man on Sci-FI - is Bad, not Wicked

I had high hopes for the recently released mini-series, " Tin Man," on the Sci-Fi channel. The promo's looked good, and I, if not the rest of the world, was ready, if not eager, for another remake of "The Wizard of Oz."

And so I juggled Time zones and negotiated a compromise in regards to "Project Runway," which seems to always be on record and apparently getting watched by my girlfriend, and managed to watch it. The first episode, like spring training and opening day in baseball, was promising and enjoyable.

Dorothy, cleverly veiled as DG, is a disenchanted teenage girl/waitress that gets pulled away to the land of the O.Z.(outer zone, they are so clever) for an adventure. As with the names I have exampled, the linking to the old story is tenuous and sometimes tedious.

The visuals and style are remarkable, and some wrinkles in the new story are intriguing. DG goes to the O.Z, where she finds that she was raised by robots and that her mother is really the true Queen of the O.Z. . She assembles her crew, the scarecrow is known as glitch, and his brain has been taken, with a big zipper on the top of his head to close the cavity.

The Tin Man, as a character is most interesting. As in the original, he is found early on, a flesh and bone human, trapped in a metal suit, where he was locked and left to die after watching his wife and children hurt and taken away. He is called a "Tin Man' as a nickname for sheriff in the O.Z., and played well by Neal McDonough. This may be the only tie-in that doesn't seem forced.

Glitch, the scarecrow character, stands on his own, the tie-in only holds him back. The cowardly lion is brought in most recognizably, as a human type wolverine, 'feeler'(empath), and doesn't add much to the story. Toto is almost laughable, making a late appearance as DG's childhood, shapeshifting 'tutor' that she called "Toto".

All of these are long reaches to tie the old story to the new story, where the wicked witch possessed DG's older sister as a child, and killed her to be resurrected and sent away by her mother the queen. Still, they are not what makes this series bad, if not a complete waste of time. The story isn't what knocks this series down a notch.

It's the acting.
Zooey Deschanel, who plays DG, mails this whole performance in as if she were sleepwalking. Understated is one thing, reading your lines out loud is another. The good production values, supporting cast, and juicy national time slot should have suggested to this girl that this isn't your old Sci-Fi movie, it's not Anaconda 5, or Vampires in Malibu. They're actually trying to do something quality here and the girl looks like she's bored to death.

It was bad to the point of being hilarious, but not intentionally. Looking over her filmography, she's had some good roles, "Almost Famous," "Big Trouble", and was passable and seemed interested in "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". She mailed this in, plain and simple, taking away any chance this series had of breaking through the pall that keeps Sci-Fi channel movies down.

She had several "Elizabeth Rohm" moments. Rohm, who walked through three or four seasons of "Law and Order" the same way, might've shaken her head at some of the lines they got out of this girl. By the end of the third part I was laughing out loud, mentally putting her in the place of several other famous female leads.

• Imagine her as Scarlet in GWTW, "uh, Red, can ya just take me back.."
• I'm not sure anyone would have known Sybil had extra personalities..
• Erin Brockovich- "They're like called boobs..uh..those things down there..uh, Ed"

Let's not make this all negative though. According t0 Reuters, viewers approved, at least in giving the channel it's biggest rating ever.

"Tin Man," a six-hour special that debuted Sunday to a network record of 6.3 million total viewers, fell 31% with Monday's Part 2 to 4.4 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. However, the second of its three installments aired opposite ESPN's telecast of the undefeated New England Patriots' last-minute victory over the Baltimore Ravens, which set cable viewership records by drawing 17.5 million viewers.

But "Tin Man," a new take on L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," got a boost in its final installment, averaging 5.1 million viewers from 9-11 p.m. Tuesday.

Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN058802220071206

I'd give it a 7/10, it only seem to be getting long at the end. I was disappointed that things seemed to get so sloppy, but it was solid entertainment. I can recommend it for anyone to watch, and if your kids like it, there's nothing too adult for them here. It unintentionally gave me some serous belly laughs, which brings me to my last point.

This is one of those things you might not even notice, but you have to watch it to get this one. Right in the beginning of the third part, as DG comes out of a vision of her mother and her fate, looks at the camera and says: "Who's a homo?" Ya ya, I know she really said," Who is Ahamo(a-Hah-mo), but really, it sounded like Homo in her deadpanned performance.

The teenager that I will never lose snorted after that every time I heard some say that name. Really, some of the lines that followed, whether they pronounced it right or not, like this one especially, " ...every time someone comes here looking for a homo, they go to the seeker."
It could easily devolve into a drinking game.

Maybe I'm insensitive, or just weird, but that was funny, and things like that got me through the last parts. After a while, you just take what you get, I expected a little more out of this after a promising start, but in the end it was just good entertainment.

Studio 60 - Finding New Life or Going out on it's own terms?

When you watch Studio 60 now, nestled into it's fill-in time slot on Thursday nights, you have to ask yourself, where the hell was this earlier in the season? When did the writers decide to quit pandering to whatever forces were put on them from week to week and just start writing what they wanted, because it's a lot better now.

This is one of the few shows capable of working both ends of topics, making you laugh and making you think, and the forces behind it now clearly have an axe to grind. Apparently responding to criticism that it was anti-christian, Studio 60 has ramped up the christian themes, and has also jumped full on the censorship storyline like their once comfy hayride has broken loose, caught on fire and started down a steep, slippery slope.

There has to be some way to keep this show going. I am wondering where all the production money goes? The actors? Well, take a pay cut, lose the cameo by each weeks musical artist, and keep making this show. Take it to cable, whatever, there are a lot of good things that happen in this show and it shouldn't be killed. All of this said, I can't find anything else about the show online. Even a guy with a web site called savestudio60 hasn't written since April, so maybe this will set off a search engine or three.

DVR Tragedies

I'm fairly new to the whole DVR/Tivo thing. In fact, I still usually just call it Tivo, and don't much care if it isn't or if that's the wrong thing to say. So what? If you say Tivo, everyone knows you mean recordable TV, right? Yeah, so everyone should get it.

We've had ours now for about a year, and have slowly let it change the way we watch anything. For instance, more than not I will wait for a show to be over or at least several minutes running to start watching it, and be able to scan thru the ads. I've also found that some shows I just let run and inhale like any other television, instead of being bothered to FF thru the ads. Our unit has a glitch that makes speeding thru them a pain sometimes anyways, going into loops so it seems like you are FF-ing forever.

What it's great for is getting the two of us together to watch the stuff we like, but lately, especially Mondays, there are so many programs on at one time that even with DVR getting two stations at a time and two different time zones to choose and record from, we have problems.

So tonight I actually had to go downstairs and watch the Cubs game because the unit had to turn to a station to start recording our late run of programs. I can't help but laugh at myself about that. This has to be some milestone.

Thank God You're Here - and you don't suck.

Thank God You'reHere - Fill-in programming that doesn't suck

It's once again that time of the television season where we are getting fill-in programming,and luckily it can't all be Deal or No Deal. The first one I've actually checked out is Thank God You're Here.

Thank God You're Here is a mix of What's My Line, and SNL. They write skits, with several actors playing pre-written plots, and drop in an actor who is sworn in before the show as to having seen no script, scene, or costume until they are given them, to wing their own part. Guided Improv, with name actors and celebrities that are either going to make you laugh or stub out what is left of their usually dwindling careers.

They have some near top-shelf names, Jason Alexander for one, and a lot of other character actors and celebrities, mostly B(or C)-list, who you know when you see them. It's hosted by David Alan Grier with Dave Foley as a mock judge ala Drew Carey. He gives lightly weighted comments and picks the best each night to win a token trophy, which I am sure goes up next to the Emmies and Oscars these actors don't have.

To hear the premise, this show sounds like a train wreck, but for the first four episodes it works. Most of these people are really funny, and it shows through. The Malcom in the Middle Dad, Bryan Cranston, was especially good. The skit in the photo on the right, with Harland Williams was one of the best, though I barely recognize the guy. and there have been other standouts too. Even Shannon Elizabeth managed to get some laughs. The supporting cast that they work the skit with is very good and the scenes are wide open for someone to improv through.

I'd love to see this showed ramped up a little bit, say, bring in a spoiler each week, one of the acknowledged pro's at improv, Wayne Brady, Ryan Stiles, or their other cohorts from "What'sMy Line," the change-up could do both sides good.

The Dresden Files - Season review

Harry Potter doesn't wholly appeal to me. It's come around a little later in my life, and though the child in me wants to like it because of the fantastic worlds and magic-themed stories, I just can't help but look at these kids and think that very soon they will be shaving and making bad "coming of age" movies, then playing secondary characters on second-tier sitcoms. Of course, that's a whole different avenue and I'm not here to put down the Harry Potter kid. I'm here to talk about Harry Dresden.

I found a new way of looking at the Sci-Fi channel that has me watching more than a few hours of their porgramming lately, a nostalgic theme. I see the movies they usually offer and am reminded of my afternoons as a youngster, tuning into WFLD ch. 32 in Chicago for the Saturday Afternoon Sc--Fi Block, Godzilla, Gamara, and Kung-Fu. The Sci-FI Updates to that Genre are bearable, but make me realize that I'm tired of that formula.

I got pulled into the Dresden Files pretty easily. Despite being disappointed by most series I saw on the Sci-Fi Channel, I decided to check it out one night. Saving it to the DVR and figuring ti would be better to watch sometime than what I end up scanning through some other times. Now I have it on automatic recording and have developed an opinion about the series itself.

It's fun. I like the constantly grungy Dresden and still appreciate the weekly hot female they bring in along with the other supporting characters. It's not high mission television, it is just good entertainment. It remminds me more of "The Night Stalker," than the actual remake of the Night Stalker, which I could not get into, and it isn't so deeply plotted that you have to get the season on DVD to follow the plotlines. There are some plot strings throughout the series, but mostly you get one story per episode, with the big three, beginning, middle, and ending.

Last Sunday night was the Season Finale. I'm not really sure about the status of this show for next year, but Sci-Fi channel being what it is, they will be airing this season's episodes quite often I am sure, and probably bring it back. They should.

Most Internet buzz I have found so far is about the books, which are of course lauded as superior, but I don't know about that yet. Fans of a book series seem to usually hate the video adaptations, but if the books are so much better, I am checking them out. One things the television series does is bring some orignality to the old cop show formula. Harry's recurring partner in crime-solving, Murphy, is a Police Detective that keeps landing cases that need Harry's special abilities. Slowly she keeps finding out about the world of magic and Harry's place in it, something against the rules of what serves as Harry's governing board, the High Council. This is one of the plot strings and so far Murphy is the only female that Harry is involved with that is recurring.

The tone of the show is just a notch below camp, not taking itself too seriously but not being overly melo-dramatic or throwing out dialogue that just makes you groan with incredulity. It's nice to have something like this that doesn't make you have to deal with Charmed or Buffy and their luggage.