Sat, 19 Jun 2010

Spring 2010 TV: Saturday

And Saturdays round out my TV-watching week with ... nothing. At least nothing predictable. Sometimes a recent episode I missed of a network show will make a reappearance, sometimes TNT has a good movie on, sometimes there's some good special on Comedy Central. But mostly, nothing.

I use Saturdays to catch up on things I recorded during the week(s) prior but haven't gotten around to watching. See, I never watch anything "live" except sometimes the news; regular shows I capture to hard drive in a DVR, then write to a DVD-RW, then copy to my computer and watch them there. Sometimes I'll build up a backlog of several episodes (sometimes even a couple months' worth) of a show, then have a marathon viewing session on a weekend.

And sometimes I'll just delete the whole batch without watching them at all. Despite my extensive reviews of various TV shows, despite me listing some 20-odd shows as A-list must-watch, I really don't spend as much time watching TV as you might think. For a while a few months ago I was recording a 3-hour block of rerun Law & Order every weekday from TNT. When I was in my darker hours, they would serve to distract me from the melancholy that was threatening to consume me. But then I started finding more interesting things to do with my time, and eventually the disk on my DVR filled up. I realized that (a) I wasn't really getting much out of them any more, and (b) I'd seen so many of them that it was rare for me to find one I hadn't already seen, even though there have been a whopping 456 episodes over the almost 20-year life of the series. I'm sure I've seen well over half of them, and probably more like three quarters. So I went and deleted every single one from my disk, and now the only L&O I see are the few remaining 20th-season eps I haven't caught so far.

And if a show gets cancelled, that takes the wind out of my sails for it, too. Often I'll just delete any backlog I have once I hear a show has been cancelled, depending on how it's been grabbing me (or not) thus far.

I do have one more review post to make, to clean up some stray bits from previous reviews. After that, on to new blogification!

Posted at: 05:14 | category: /Reviews | Comments (0)

Fri, 18 Jun 2010

Spring 2010 TV: Friday

Fridays are evidence that the TV pickings get slimmer as the week goes on. Traditionally a dumping ground for series that were on their last legs or otherwise out of favor, its ever-changing lineups are always frustrating for me. At the moment, there are three shows I watch that come on Friday:

Stargate Universe is sort of Stargate meets Star Trek: Voyager. You gotta admit, the whole stargate concept has been drained of its juice by the past series. I loved the original movie, goofy though it was, and SG-1 was a worthy followup to it. I watched it regularly until Richard Dean Anderson left, then sorta fell away. And Atlantis was a fun ride for a while, though I didn't manage to stick with it til its end; not even until the Farscape cast showed up.

But the wonder of the stargate concept, that you can flip a switch and step onto another world light years away, is pretty well gone. Been there, done that. So Universe adds a cranky and mysterious ship, a Gilligan's Island marooning of the crew, and a young soap-opera cast performing their overheated escapades at the periphery while the old dogs fight it out center stage. And Begbie, er, I mean Robert Carlyle, is a fantastic old dog, and along with Canadian veteran Justin Louis and scheming Asian hottie Ming-Na they manage to bring a lot of sidelong looks and fraught drama to the show without losing the SF focus. I never understand half of what's going on, even as a lifelong SF fan, and I think the cast and the writers don't either, but it doesn't matter because we're in this haunted mansion of a ship and things happen every week and ain't it fun! An A rated show that could slip to C in an instant, but hasn't so far.

Miami Medical was intended to be the new M*A*S*H, and really missed that mark by a country mile, but I still enjoy watching it. Cancelled now, regrettably, but I'm still watching what remains of it until it goes away entirely. I haven't even gotten to the point where I recognize all the characters yet, but it doesn't matter. It's a solid trauma drama, Cuba's little brother Omar is great as the knows-all nurse, British face-man Jeremy Northam is nicely hard-bitten as the Good Guy With a Past, and I'm totally smitten with the lovely young Elisabeth Harnois, who looks about twelve but, um, a very sexy twelve. (She's really 31, and I'm still in love.) It's a shame that it won't get a chance to develop into something that's even remotely close to M*A*S*H, but oh well. An A show while it lasted.

Flashpoint was gone for a long time, but is back now, and I'm so glad. It's a very unusual case: an actual Canadian show being shown on a major American network like it was one of their own. And what a show it is—gripping, action-packed, with believable characters and tense dramatic situations. If all Canadian shows were this good, Hollywood could just pack up and go home. Flashpoint portrays its SWAT team in a way that other shows have tried to do but failed; I mean, showbiz people know in their bones that SWAT is perfect for dramatic stories, but until this show have failed to translate that to the screen. Flashpoint nails it. And the cast is great: Enrico Colantoni has been a favorite of mine since I first saw him on Just Shoot Me, shone like a quasar in Galaxy Quest, and thoroughly enriches any role he plays, including Flashpoint's troubled but principled SWAT cop Sgt. Greg Parker. And I'd never seen Hugh Dillon before this show started appearing on CBS, but I instantly became a fan and have liked him ever since. The rest of the mostly-Canadian cast are great too, and the show's plots and action keep me glued to my seat througout. A+ quality, for sure.

I should at least mention Joss Whedon's latest effort, Dollhouse, which used to show up on Fridays. Having loved Firefly so much, and having enjoyed the early seasons of Buffy, I gave Dollhouse every chance; I tried to like it, I really did. And yet ... I really never could. The premise didn't grab me, the actors weren't very compelling (except for the very drool-worthy Dichen Lachman), and the storylines were each week more disappointing than the last. Some weeks after I'd stopped watching it, I saw a lot of talk on the net about how, if you just gave it, oh, 14 or 20 episodes or whatever, you'd finally see what Whedon was driving at, and you'd fall in love with the show and never want to miss it. I guess I just didn't make it to that threshold, because overall the show seemed pretty flat to me. And now it's cancelled, in typical Fox fashion, and my sympathies go out to its fans. I'm just glad I didn't fall in love with it myself only to have it yanked out from under me like that.

Posted at: 00:43 | category: /Reviews | Comments (0)

Thu, 17 Jun 2010

Spring 2010 TV: Thursday

For me, Thursdays on TV means four shows:

CSI was the first, and still one of the best, of the modern crop of crime detection shows on TV. It has clearly influenced a generation of its successors, and has become a part of our culture in ways many and varied. While it's true that I like CSI: New York a bit better these days, and it's true that even with the addition of the masterful Laurence Fishburne, it hasn't been the same since William Petersen left, it still draws me in every week with its blend of geeky forensics and gritty street crime.

Helgenberger, Eads, Guilfoyle, Szmanda, Hall, and Berman have been solid as rocks since day one, and I'd miss seeing any one of them. I have to admit that I was strongly moved by a scene this season in which one character (was it Jim Brass?) told Marg Helgenberger's newly-crowned team leader Catherine Willows that she wasn't doing a very good job. She acknowledged that it was true, and she wasn't sure why she couldn't do as good a job as Grissom had. The other character told her, "Grissom had one thing you don't have." She asked, "What?" And he smiled and said, "You." And that sorta opened her eyes, and let her give Eads' Nick Stokes more authority and leeway, and the team began to work better after that.

I mourned Petersen's passing, but I guess it was time for Grissom to seek new bugs to study, and time for Mr. Petersen to go back to treading the boards in the Windy City. Fishburne is more than big enough to fill Petersen's shoes, but so far they haven't let him. Dunno what's up with that. I really mourned Warrick's passing, not only because I really liked the character, but because I've been a big fan of Gary Dourdan ever since I first saw him in the fourth Alien movie. Jorja Fox, eh, I've liked her well enough since she was Jorjan Fox on ER, but something about her has always seemed ... I dunno, distant. Or something.

New additions Archie and Wendy and Henry are just fine with me, and I haven't been able to get enough of Sheeri Rappaport since she played the taciturn but libidinous Officer Franco on NYPD Blue. Wallace Langham is obviously a good actor; forgive me for not liking his Hodges, although that may be the character I'm not liking rather than the actor. I see from the IMDb that Eric Stonestreet from Modern Family did a recurring turn on CSI in its early years, but I'm sorry to say I don't remember him. The show is a common venue for upscale character actors, and occasionally some big-name directors like Friedkin and Tarantino, but even with its regular crew it's always worth watching.

So it's a legend, and is getting a bit long in the tooth, but it still has enough of the ol' zazz to make it to my A list every week.

The Mentalist is now finishing up its sophomore year, and continues to amuse and occasionally enthrall me. I had not seen Aussie lead Simon Baker before this series, but he does a great job here, and his American accent is almost flawless. I've never much liked Robin Tunney, can't say why, but she just hasn't done it for me in anything she's been in, starting for me with End of Days. But she can act, I'll give her that, and does a satisfactory job as the team chief. The rest of the cast is excellent, the dialogue and situations are amusing and just suspensful enough, and the premise of a "mind reader" who turns his skills toward solving crime is quite cute. Like its brother in charms, Lie to Me, the notion of somebody being able to tell what we're thinking even when we don't want them to know has a lot of appeal. Mentalist had some rather soggy episodes in the middle of this season, but the first season was good enough for me to cut it some slack, and while I haven't yet seen the final four eps of this season, they sound good, and the finale claims to make some hay on the "Red John" subplot. An A-rated show for me.

Bones is an up-and-down experience for me. When I think about the show, I think eh, why do I even watch it? Then I actually do watch, and I always enjoy it, so I keep coming back for more even when I'm not sure I want to. Frankly, I don't have much use for either of the leads, but the supporting cast more than make up for them. I was sorry when Jonathan Adams left, but Tamara Taylor is a more-than-adequate replacement for him, and brings her own skill and sexiness to the show. I was also sorry to see Eric Millegan leave, and I hope he's doing something interesting nowadays. Michaela Conlin is one of the prettiest women on Earth these days, T. J. Thyne is who I want to be when I grow up, and Doogie Sweets, er, I mean Mitch Weir, er, John Francis Daley, yeah, that's it, doesn't annoy me enough to be a turn-off. I still miss "King of the Lab", though. I'd like to rate this one a B, but I can't recall ever voluntarily missing one, so I guess that without realizing it, this is an A show for me.

Fringe is another show just finishing its second season. It wants to be The X Files, a show I adored in its early seasons, tolerated in later seasons, and had pretty much given up on by the time it ended. I watched the series finale, but gave the movie a pass. I used to curse Files when it failed to advance its Mulder/ET theme, and then curse them when they did. Still, in its day it was one of the most unusual and mind-bending shows on TV, and my wife and I used to discuss and reference scenes and episodes for days, weeks, even years after they'd aired.

Fringe has a similar flavor, but it seems the showrunners are avoiding some of the obvious traps that Files fell into, like just being way too damned mysterious for its own good, and falling in love with its own mythology. Fringe isn't quite in the same league as X Files, I think, but it does have some pretty whackdoodle storylines, it has the mysterious "Observer" and the whole glyph thing and the alternate-universe mythology, and the secretive and probably evil megacorporation, and where else can you see Leonard Nimoy from time to time! John Noble does a fine job as the man lost in his own mind, Anna Torv and Jasika Nicole are suitably yummy and competent, and poor Joshua Jackson doesn't seem to mind being thrown about by the winds of plot, being a hapless buffoon one moment and a hard-eyed mercenary the next. One of the main reasons I watch it, though, is because Lance Reddick is in it; I think he's fantastic. Lean, hard, and uncompromising, yet willing to accept the notion that, say, somebody has burst into flame, dissolved into a puddle, or grown steel horns, without batting an eye. I'll keep watching unless/until they get too wrapped up in their own mystery, or until Fox drops the axe. Rating is A, for now.

Yes, I know that FlashForward is, or was, shown on Thursdays, but it's cancelled now, and really never lived up to its fairly intriguing premise. I guess they wanted to clone Lost (which I've never seen, and never had an urge to see), and they failed both at that and at making an interesting show in its own right. Pity. A great waste of some fantastic acting talent, most notably the most excellent Courtney B. Vance, a smart and versatile actor and a helluva good-looking man who's never seemed to find just the right niche to showcase his obvious assets.

Posted at: 03:46 | category: /Reviews | Comments (0)

Tue, 08 Jun 2010

Spring 2010 TV: Wednesday

Hey, it's not summer yet!

Wednesday is reflective of the general "TV gets weaker the farther into the week you go" trend. Nevertheless, I still find a few good things on:

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is my least-favorite of the L&O spinoffs, even including Trial by Jury, but it still has enough to hold my attention. Even if it's only a chance to the The Belz and Ice T in action. I try to grab it when I'm thinking of it, but I don't mourn when I miss it, which I guess means it gets a B rating from me. Occasionally an episode rises above the pack and really shines, but I never count on that. If they ever give Richard Belzer and Ice T their own show, I'll watch it religiously. Ice may be famous as a rapper, but I love him as an actor. I was totally stricken when they cancelled Players; I really liked that show.

ABC has a couple of cute comedies on Wednesdays, including Modern Family. Its ensemble cast is great, especially Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet as a gay couple. They're always a delight, and while I dunno how accurate their portrayal is, it certainly fits my straight preconceptions. I can't decide which of the two does a better job; one minute I think it's Ferguson, and the next I'm favoring Stonestreet. Never seen either of them before that I remember, but I hope they have long and successful futures as actors. The rest of the cast is okay too, with Ed O'Neill doing a great but underused job as the grumpy but not totally rock-bound Average White Male, Sofia Vergara accurately chanelling Charo as his excitable Columbian trophy wife, and the very cute Julie Bowen as a young wife and mother who's not quite as smart and with-it as she thinks she is. The kids all do a serviceable job, especially Rico Rodriquez as the wise-beyond-his-years Manny. I don't much like Ty Burrell, never really have, can't say why, but I assume he's doing exactly what he sets out to do here, playing a doofy dude verging on middle age with almost zero grace. (I take it back, I liked Burrell in Back to You, but mostly because they kept sticking him out into hurricanes, throwing him under busses, and otherwise subjecting him to almost continual humiliation and abuse.) I'll give Family an A-.

ABC's other Wednesday night comedy is The Middle, which I like somewhat less than Family, but only a little less. Have loved Patricia Heaton since her days on Raymond, and she does a fine job here as the beleaguered yet plucky mom, trying to balance a job, family, and the remaining shreds of a personal life in blue-collar Indiana. I didn't know Neil Flynn because I don't watch Scrubs, but he's acceptably funny as Dad. In the early episodes Charlie McDermott rather overplayed the surly, angsty Axl, but more recently it seems they're giving him more room, allowing him to prove he really can act. And Atticus Shaffer's Brick is just as weird as he needs to be, and not one bit more. But for me, the real standout here is young Eden Sher playing the much-abused Sue. Yeah yeah, she's only 18, but I'm totally in lurve with her. And she absolutely nails the part, so get offa my back, okay? Overall the show is a bit too ... eh, herky-jerky to really approach greatness, but the actors do a fine job with the material they're given, and I do get laughs from it nearly every time I catch it. I'd say it's a B+, with brief forays into A territory.

(Okay, ABC has another comedy on Wednesdays, Cougar Town. And as much as I like Ian Gomez and Busy Phillips, and as huge a crush as I have on Courtney Cox, I just can't get past the premise. I tried the first few eps, and just couldn't take it. So sue me: I like Men of a Certain Age and dislike Cougar Town and Desperate Housewives. As my wife used to say, pbbbbbbbbbt!)

Criminal Minds, on the other hand, is a solid A-list show in my book. Back when Mandy Patinkin was on it, it was A+, but even with the cast changes, it still draws me in every time. I think I've finally stopped seeing Greg Montgomery every time Thomas Gibson is in a scene, which helps. It's total geek love whenever Kirsten Vangsness' Garcia has screen time, cuz she's cute as a biscuit and smarter than everybody else, except maybe Dr. Reid, who is pretty cool himself; Matthew Grey Gubler makes a fine neurotic super-brain. And it's fun watching Shemar Moore slowly outgrow the role of Derek Morgan: He's a very talented young actor with bigger things in his future, I think. The lovely A. J. Cook brings sufficient depth to her JJ character to avoid being just another bimbo, but Joe Mantegna seems to be just loafing along as Rossi; not quite phoning it in, but you can tell the part doesn't stretch his acting muscles very much. For me, though, the real attraction these days is Paget Brewster, who I find positively adoreable. I've caught her in a bunch of other things before Minds, and I loved her in every one of them. I should mention that the writers deserve some credit here too, as the typical Minds episode is nicely creepy, sometimes verging on horrifying.

CSI: New York is my favorite of the CSI spinoffs, the original included. I know I'm in the minority there, but that's how I see it. Gary Sinise, right winger though he may be, has long been one of my favorite actors, and I'll watch pretty much anything he's in. Melina Kanakaredes is solid and sexy as his sidekick, and I find Eddie Cahill's cop character Don Flack very appealing, though I can't say why. And I like several of the other supporting actors even better: Hill Harper is a legend in his 40s, not to mention a great actor and a very good-looking man. Robert Joy always brings a quirky skeeviness to any part, and I think he intends it that way. All I know is, I really enjoy seeing him on screen. Have had a big ol' crush on cutie Anna Belknap for years, even though for a very long time I didn't know her name; now I'll certainly never forget it. For me, though, the real standout among the supportings is Carmine Giovinazzo. He just screams New York to me (Or should that be Noo Yawk?), and he does it in the best possible way. He looks great, and brings a very authentic feel to his character. His Danny Messer is troubled, flawed, brave, honorable, and very human. I guess you can tell this is an A show for me!

Posted at: 14:52 | category: /Reviews | Comments (0)