4 posts tagged “csi”
I didn't even make it through the opening credits of tonight's CSI, and managed to fall asleep before Grisolm's pithy remark.
There are about half a dozen shows that I follow and without a shadow of a doubt Battlestar Galactica takes the top spot. In fact it annihilates the competition. Growing up in a pro-scifi environment I never realised the prejudice against this genre. It is a loss to those not tuning in; such a stellar ensemble cast, good writing and direction. You can tell that everyone involved cares and then there are the perks: Ron Moore's podcasts for EVERY episode, round table discussions, webisodes over the summer and a geeky music video (which I have watch an unhealthy amount of times today). The big themes running at the moment are Gaius Baltar's trial (I am confident that the silver tonged genius will get off) and the identities of the final five cylons. There is a lot of speculation on the boards but my guess is Saul Tigh... Only time will tell. My other top show at the mo is Supernatural. It has shifted up from guilty pleasure to highlight of the week, along side BSG and House (which has a BIG revelation coming about the gruff doctor's childhood tomorrow night!) - such is my exciting Manhattan life.
Supernatural has a Buffy crossed with early X-Files feel about it but with consquences. I am all about cause and effect, it's the Greeks what can I say. There is great chemistry between the actors playing the Winchester boys (Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki), plenty of sarky banther and classic rock references. The background is that their mother died in mysterious circumstances and their father dealt with it by becoming a hunter of all things supernatural. This of course leads to tension and resentment as the boys grow up. Sam (Padalecki) eventual leaves to go to college but is reunited with Dean (Ackles) to go looking for their missing father, and that is where season one begins. You need to watch it carefully as there are plenty of good genre cameos: the smoking man, Fred from Angel, Leoben from BSG and Tricia Helfer will be seen later this season!
Being a born again student has eaten into my couch potato time. There had to be cut backs and several shows on parole at the moment. Season passes could be revoked at any time for CSI, ER, Bones, Prison Break and 24. I am not buying into the ER resurgence, and CSI has lost its faux edge. I need to check to see if Danny Cannon is still exec-producer cos if not that might explain the gear shift down to medicoracy. To a certain extent I am enjoying Liev Schrieber as the mysterious fill-in whilst Grisolm treads the boards, he pockets his used coffee cup in a manner of someone with something to hide. Prison Break has got very blah since they crims escaped and I just can't see it going three seasons. If they tied things up neaty at the end of this seasons the principals would be free to head up other shows perhaps Wentworth Miller could turn up on 24. CTU should so hire Michael Scofield. I'll give up on Bones once I have seen the arc where Stephen Fry guests a shrink. How long till Fry & Laurie reunion?
And finally 24. Which totally lost it last week which introoduced last season's bluetooth man as Jack's Bel-Air dwelling brother - WTF. Everyone knows that Jack does not have family. He was bread in a lab and is a cylon; one of the final five.
It has been one of those unraveling types of weeks. I got to today, looked down at my feet and there pretty much was my life transformed into piles of metaphorical thread. What is a girl to do other than lament to her husband that she could really do without the "job" bit of her life. He of course countered with the riposte that he too could do without the pesky job bit of his life but that like gravity it was a given and not going anywhere for either of them. I guess I brought this on myself. If I hadn't have done so darn well in last summers exams I might have had some wiggle room. But I did and I don't.
I slash we have a plan. A five year type of a plan that sees us: moving cities, starting a family (Gaius has a nice tyrannical ring to it) and most importantly for me getting a first and learning Latin (the language bit isn't compulsory for Alex). With these future accomplishments under my belt, graduate school and a hopefully slightly more cerebral sort of a life will be on the cards (though not without a decades worth of hard slog - I swear the studying and homework will never end). It looks as if we are going to have another year to eighteen months in NY; which is fine as long as I keep reminding myself that what I am doing now is not what I will be doing forever and that hopefully there will be a hard stop to the relentless juggling.
I must put an end to this self indulgent whining as I have much to get done tonight so I can watch CSI at nine and see what type of job Liev Schreiber does filling Gil's shoes.
What Alex really means by "resident entertainment director" is despotic dictator. For the past 11 years Alex has been held hostage by viewing tastes; I had hoped that Stockholm syndrome would have kicked in by now but I haven't been able to convert him to the wonder of British mysteries, Sharpe or Doctor Who. Because we record all our shows on DVR we are not tied to the schedule, but because we record everything in HD and since we have 16 or so shows set up for season passes we have to keep on top of things otherwise the DVR will implode. I add this to the ever growing list of things I stress about: mildew in the bathroom, insects, my course, skin cancer, identity theft, not being able to read everything book that interests me, the umpteen films that are currently released that I haven't made it to the cinema to watch, and eating too much sugar (is there such a thing as too much sugar in ones diet?).
The shows that I am most looking forward to are obviously Battlestar Galactica, then House and 24 (starting in December and featuring Eddie Izzard). BSG is so good that even the 90 second webisodes are more satisfying that a lot of other shows and I think that there is a good chance that we might cull some of the stuff we only watch out of habit.
Old favourites on borrowed time: ER, CSI, L&O:CI (already voted off the island), Without a Trace and Bones.
I don't like the Grisolm/Sara clunky relationship hints ("I brought you a veggie burger") and the sickening potential for long looks over the mass spectrometer. I was under whelmed with the season premier involving Cirque du Soleil and then disappointed with the execution of Catherine's drugged/dated rape because she doesn't report the crime. She gathers her own evidence - that wont be admissible in court - that will probably lead to street justice involving her father. I just wish they had her calling it into the police because it sets an example. I still remember the scene from the British soap Eastenders where one of the main characters is raped and Michele Fowler takes control of the situation and wont allow her to take a bath as it will destroy the evidence (and this was back in the late 80s/early 90s) for the police.
Current favourites: BSG, Prison Break, NCIS, The Unit, House, MI5 and Supernatural.
New shows that have tickled my fancy: Kidnapped, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Smith and Dexter.
Out of the four Kidnapped (I can even overlook naming the ex-FBI bod who specialises in kidnapping - Knapp) and Showtime's gory Dexter are the most intriguing. Studio 60 is Aaron Sorkin's return to television but it is not as clever as it think's it is. Just because the characters talk fast doesn't mean they are smart, and it is not like West Wing dialogue where you have to listen closely for all the cultural, political, historical, biblical and literary references. Last night's show for instance centred around trying to figure out a cold opener for the show (which is an SNL style comedy sketch show), and they ended up doing a version of Gilbert & Sullivan's Modern Major General. Maybe I am jaded and old, watched and listen to too much (predominently British) comedy because whilst it was funny it was hardly revolutionary and something that I have seen before (several times as G&S style is easily reformatable) and was it just me or did they not mention G&S? It also doesn't help that I am deeply prejudice against SNL. However, it is still refreshing to have Sorkin back writing for television but since he has been gone the bar has been raised with David Mamet's The Unit, House or BSG.
