Thursday, October 16

I must have been in a terrible mood last night. I strongly believe in the theory that severe moods (happy or sad or otherwise) will often color how we view movies, and I think TV fits that bill as well. I don't know if it was my foot, which hurt enough to try to cut partially off, or that I spent much of yesterday wanting to kill something, but Thursday's powerful lineup left me flat.

Kath & Kim Episode 1.2 - "Respect"

Remember how I said last week's show was an abomination? It was MILES better than this week's. I have NO IDEA why I would watch suchdreck . I think I wanted to punish myself for some great sin. What's worse, I made my mom watch it with me. She too was horrified. (Although: she is predicting the girls' use of "Gorge" for "Gorgeous"will soon catch fire.)

Kath & Kim is abysmal, and I vow never to watch again, even if I have to poke out my eyes to make it work.

CSI 9.2 - "The Happy Place"

The first three minutes were really good, elegiac and mysterious. However, everything after the dent in the bus fell flat. (No pun intended.)

I just couldn't get into this episode. Again, I don't know if that's because it was me, or a "come-down" episode after last week's emotional goodbye toWarrick, or maybe just because every facet of the show seemed to point to Grissom/Sarah, and you all know how much I have despised Sarah. Sarah left him again at the end, and I think they are setting up Grissom going after her. Sad, but they have to have some reason for him to leave, and losing Warrick and then Sarah all over again might push him over the edge.

Grissom has always been the consummate professional, but it would be kind of interesting if we saw him crack. That I would enjoy, though painful. But tonight's episode? Waste of time.

Life on Mars 1.2 - "The Real Adventures of Unreal Sam Tyler"

My dad watched this episode with me, after I talked about how good it was last week. Ye gods. Do you know how embarrassing that was? I stake my reputation (entertainment-wise) on having well-formed solid opinions. If I recommend a show, it's quality, baby, and YOU WILL LOVE IT!

I mean, I know with these premieres, you can only go by what you've seen so far, and it's not unusual for a second episode to have a drop-off from a pilot, which gets more time, money and attention, not to mention that often the second episode (and those following) are shot months after the pilot, and the network orders some changes.

That said, last night's episode was terrible. I was mortified that my name was associated with it at all. Now I have a dilemma. I would like to give it one more chance (on the strength of the first episode and the premise), but if/when I catch up with Eleventh Hour, if that show is better, I might be tempted.

And either way, I can't see my dad watching Life on Mars ever again.

Sigh.



And to top it all, off, I watched the last three innings of the ALCS, hoping to see Tampa make the World Series, only to see Boston with another improbable comeback. Now that's all anyone in sports will talk about for two days. If Boston makes the World Series I am giving up baseball forever.



EDIT (ADDED 9:02 AM ON SATURDAY OCTOBER 18)

Eleventh Hour 1.2 - "Cardiac"

I saw the second episode of Eleventh Hour last night. While it did not suck, it was fairly boring and predictable, which in some ways is worse. The plot was a blatant rip-off -- of all things -- of a classic Family Guy episode! I gotta hand it to the producers: other than CSI, CBS cannot get anyone in the 18-49 demo to watch any of their shows, so they had to figure that no one even knew they had stolen from the toad-licking Lando Griffin episode.

I think my bigger problem is that is it obvious to me that Eleventh Hour is a Jerry Bruckheimer production on CBS. This isn't a rant about Bruckheimer, but you know I have gone on at length before about how I can almost always recognize what network a show is on after only a few seconds? Well, there are 11 procedural Dramas on CBS, and all of them look and feel very similar.

Perhaps this is why CBS gets the most overall viewers. Perhaps this is also why they can't get young viewers. CSI is the original, the best of them. NCIS seems to have some good chemistry/characters going for it, and The Unit has a somewhat unique storyline with the military.

That said, 6 of the shows are from Bruckheimer, 10 of the 11 are directly about crime investigation, and after awhile....they all sort of blend together.

Anyway, Rufus Sewell's strange affect is still the best part of Eleventh Hour, as is the possibility that it will dawn on Bruckheimer and CBS that the only real hope of long-term success lies with Marley Shelton in her Underwear on a weekly basis.

This is not a chauvinist pig issue. This is a quality of life issue. This is a quality of police drama issue. Women who look like Marley Shelton don't work for the FBI. The least they can do is make up reasons for her to be in various states of undress.