26 posts tagged “television”

This is the night that makes the DVR groan and stocks me up with plenty of shows to watch over the weekend. Oh how I love Thursdays. With the returning shows my DVR will be set for Supernatural (favourite show on TV and it's mythology is second to none), Fringe (hopefully it will not stumble in its sophomore season) and The Mentalist (fluffy fun with the eye candy of the charming Simon Baker).  I tend to dip in and out of Bones. It never quite made it to a DVR season pass but I always tune in to the episodes with Stephen Fry guest staring. I am intrigued by FlashForward, and will give it a go. Perhaps this will be the year I start watching shows on ABC and almost ditch NBC entirely. Still loyal to Chuck but I think it might fit better on NBC's sister cable channel USA (since characters are welcome there). 

There is NOTHING on TV on Wednesday. Hurrah an evening to study and play Connect Four. OK that is not strictly true. America's Next Top Tyra is on Wednesdays but it is a show that I like to pretend that I don't care about and refuse to set up a season pass for yet I will watch it if I am in. It's not like it is a bad show, I actually think it is one of the more interesting reality shows but I don't loose any sleep when I miss it (Sorry Tyra).  The only other show that looks tempting is Eastwick on ABC, and then that is because Paul Gross is playing Darryl the Devil. He should make a pretty good, mischievous devil. I have a feeling that ABC will wipe the floor with Leno this fall.

I feel slightly guilty about writing about all the new TV that is gracing my screen(s) given that my mum is trapped in crappy TV limbo; the new TV season isn't quite as regimented in the UK as it is in the US. Yet another reason to celebrate being on this side of the Atlantic.

Looks as if CBS is carving out Tuesdays to be NCIS franchise night. I really enjoy the original series (it's the right balance between drama and comedy, and the only procedural cop show where the cops take their guns off when they sit down which is a lovely accurate touch) and will give the LA spin-off a chance (especially since Linda Hunt will guest star). But what with O'Donnell's face plastered over billboards I am guessing that he survived the "deadly" shooting that was the cliff hanger of the cross over episode.  Other than that Tuesdays is pretty bleak until November when the remake of V airs on ABC. No real interest in 90210 or Melrose Place, or the reality shows that the other three networks are airing. I am sorry but Dancing with the Stars, The Biggest Loser and So You Think You Can Dance all airing at the same time is a way to make NCIS and NCIS: LA sure fire hits!

Mondays should be all about Chuck and House. Except NBC have decided to withhold Casey, Chuck and Sarah from me till the spring. So all that leaves me with is House. Except Fox have decided to pair my two favorite Brits: Hugh Laurie and Tim Roth. So Monday nights will be back-to-back snark with House and Lightman. Finally a reason to get excited about the work week starting over. Other than that there isn't that much on TV on Monday nights. I can't allow myself to get sucked into Heroes again, and I am not really a Gossip Girl girl. I am slightly tempted my Castle. Looks a little Murder-She-Wrotey and ABC (and I can't believe I am saying this) has some really interesting shows this season so I am ready to cross over to the dark side.

I am not sure what I love more about Mad Men the excellent writing, the stellar cast or the period setting which allows for a more interesting range of behaviors that contemporary dramas. In a world gone PC it's refreshing to be reminded that women use to smoke and drink their way through pregnancy (what's more dangerous deli meat, or a gimlet?) and that repression was the plat du jour. Last night I self medicated with a latte and managed to stay awake for the season premier of Mad Men.  I can't give too much away as my mum has sworn me to secrecy until it airs in the UK but I can say that season three picks up a good 6 or 7 months after season two and the British invasion has well and truly taken hold at Sterling Cooper.  Jared Harris is the hatchet man from London and my god he is good (Harris was obviously warming up on Fringe), and he is ably assisted by Mr. Nigel Murray from Bones who has been nicknamed 'Moneypenny'. Oh it is going to be a good season.

The problem with being away for nearly three weeks is that your DVR explodes. Whilst I was gone I'd get these texts from Alex asking me what he could delete - the whole third season of Weeds that has been on the DVR for over a year, Daily Shows & Colberts were watched without me, and then the DVR starts deleting. So now we are stuck having to watch earlier episodes on Hulu (or IMDB) before watching the more recent ones that are clogging up the DVR.  This is causing me first world anxiety, and now after getting in late from Star Trek I am propping my eye lids up with matchsticks so I can can watch something so I can delete it.  Really looking forward to vegging out tomorrow night and being able to start cleaning up the DVR.

On my commute home tonight I was listening to NPR's This American Life, and this week's theme being the ever so topical Scenes from a Recession.  It featured tales of Circuit City employees toughing it out to the end of the liquidation process, a partially renovated condo building with an errant developer (this story made me so glad that we rent) and the gripping tale of how the FDIC covertly take over a bank.  The latter got me thinking about how long we'll have to wait till we get our first procedural drama based on the economic meltdown.  Okay, Law and Order have done an episode based on a Madoff-esque scam but given that L&O scripts come directly from NY Daily News it's not that unusual.

So what types of pitches could be being made to the networks:

• CSI: Balance Sheet - the bleeding edge of forensic accounts (though fancy calculators aren't as exciting as mass spectrometres)
  
• A Wire-esque drama that explores the gritty reality of subprime mortgage market from the people taking out the mortgages to those selling them and trading the derivatives  
• The Liquidator - every week we get to see a different business be taken apart
  
• A family sitcom based on a blue collar family dealing with redundancy (oh wait we can just watch Roseanne re-runs)

I hate to admit it but this Friday's episode, Man on the Street, was better than the previous five. Joss Whedon was right it was worth hanging on to see where he is taking this series. I still don't think the premise is sustainable, but the plot  didn't have me tearing my hair out. I still feel it is my duty to support Helo so I will be hanging on in their a little longer.

Things I liked about Man on the Street:

• Topher "the annoying geek" screen time was minimal
• Dr. Claire's (Amy Acker) facial scars are less melodramatic (it's good that they are fading as it was too much Frankenstein's monster earlier)
• The toned down Topher's assistant Ivy's look, and dropped the ill advised nose stud. They were trying too hard to make her like Abby from NCIS, and it so was not working (the powers that be need to lift the look of Anna from Chuck)
  
• Starting to tolerate the clique of Victor, Echo and Sierra
• Two pretty good fight scenes
• The abuse of Sierra by her handler (Boone from Earth: Final Conflict) wasn't BSG dark but highlighted how vulnerable the actives are in their weak state, and allowed Boyd to throw the evil handler through a plate glass window
• Helo (aka the FBI agent trying to shut down the dollhouse) is pretty much screwed: suspended, being pounded by Echo and the girl next door he has just started shagging is a sleeper active
• Adele de Witt (Olivia Williams) got to show her teeth as a savy opperator
• Hinted that the Dollhouse is more than just fulfiling fantasies of the rich (I smell a conspiracy!)

 I can't quite believe there were this many things that I liked about it, and the episode left me pondering if there really someone on the inside who is trying to help Helo, or was that part of the scenario that was programmed into Echo? If there is a mole then my money is on Ivy as she keeps dropping hints that she knows more about Topher's work so might be able alter programs or may be it is one of the doll's or perhaps Dr. Claire. Either way Dollhouse gets a pass for another week.  

I use to think it weird that in December all my favorite shows would go into hibernation until the new year. In the UK Christmas is when the BBC et al come out all guns blazing to wow a nation but now I cherish the respite.  The heart grows a little fonder for some shows and forgets others.  I thought that we were on the cusp of welcoming 24 back onto our DVR but Alex just veto it (sorry Jack). Let's be honest when you peek the list below we have more than enough shows to be going on with, and 24 is no Battlestar Galactic. Five days until BSG's season 4.5 kicks off - woo hoo!

• Battlestar Galactica (1/16/09)  - Who is the fifth cyclon and what happened to Earth?
  
• Burn Notice (1/22/09) - Highly addictive, and the Miami setting eases winter blues
  
• Chuck (2/2/09) - It has more than the touch of the Walter Mittys about it and a definitely a guilty pleasure
  
• Dollhouse (2/13/09) - Josh Wheldon's new show so will give it a whirl but I get Ibsen flashbacks every time I think of the title
  
• Fringe (1/20/09) - MASSIVE DYNAMIC and the wonderfully inappropriate Walter
  
• House (1/19/09) - Duh!
  
• Lie to Me (1/21/09) - Mr. Orange reads people
  
• Life (2/4/09) - Quirky crime drama with Band of Brother's Captain Winters
  
• The Mentalist - Simon Baker reads people
  
• NCIS
  
• Psych - fake psychic reads people
  
• Supernatural (1/15/09) - Mythology, monsters and classic rock
  
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2/13/09) - The end is neigh and John might meet his dad
  
• United States of Tara (1/18/09) - quirky comedy about a suburban mum suffering from spilt personality
  

Thank the gods for staggered start times otherwise I'd never have anytime for anything else! Quite an alarming list and only time will tell which shows get left on the DVR.

W00t

• Lost in Austen (why can't I find a portal to Pemberly in my bathroom?)
• Chuck
• Christmas trees
• Fairy lights
  
• 2009 just around the corner, and starting to plan my May trip to London
• Lunch at Balthazar's on Friday
  

Blah

• Goodbyes
• More snow on the way
• Cleaning out closets, and organizing
• My embarrassing TBR  (To Be Read) pile that I hide in the hallway
  
• Dying Christmas trees and how do I get mine out of the apartment?