I made a whole bunch of notes while watching last night's Chuck, Heroes, and My Own Worst Enemy. However, I'm not convinced anyone is interested in my thoughts other than me, and rather than waste my time writing up all the impressions, I'll just leave it at: they done good.


World Series sucked. Tim McCarver should be forced to retire.

What's the best night for TV on television? That's hard to say. Everyone knows about Thursdays, and Sundays--especially adding HBO and Showtime--might get the nod, at least for adults. However, if you ask what's the best night for Television on one network, it would be hard to argue against NBC's Monday Night Lineup. I don't see anything that even comes close.

Before the night even started, a grave announcer told us about the three shows we would be seeing that night (Chuck, Heroes, My Own Worst Enemy), and then they showed us that it was Mohinder Suresh from Heroes! He even said "...because things sound more impressive when I say them like this." Good times.

Chuck 2.4 - "Chuck Vs. the Cougars"

First of all, I want to apologize to Michael Strahan (and NBC), for decrying the stunt casting of having Strahan guest-star on Chuck when he just got a new gig on NBC's Sunday Night Football. Actually, Strahan is on FOX.

Oops. My bad.

I think I was quick to find fault because in general I don't like stunt-casting. It feels gimmicky, and takes away from the characters I love, which is the main reason you watch a show like Chuck. (It's not like you're hoping for an Alias-like techno-thriller.) So, when I saw that Nicole Richie was a guest-star, I got nervous. However, if you didn't know anything about what she was before, I think you'd have been perfectly fine with Miss Richie's performance. Her husband (played by Fred Savage's younger brother Ben) wasn't quite as good. I think that probably is my bias again.

When it comes to the Savages, you either grew up with Fred on The Wonder Years and The Princess Bride, or you grew up with Ben on the monstrosity I like to call Boy Meets World. Guess which camp I fall into? When Sarah meets Nicole Richie's character, in her fake Frozen Yogurt shop, it turns out it's someone from her (real) past. This prompts Chuck to say,

"Of all the semi-tart Asian-influenced frozen yogurt shops in all of town....."

That cracked me up. Anyway, the episode involves Sarah having to go to her 10th High School Reunion. Boy, that gave me pause. I look at people like Sarah and Chuck, and I just assume they are older than I am. but Sarah's 10th Reunion was from 1998, four years after mine! That made me feel ancient. There were several very clever high-school "homages," let's call them. One involved the names. Nicole Riche's character was Heather Chandler, from the movie HEATHERS, while Ben Savage's was Mark Ratner, who, you will recall, was the movie-theater geek who loved Jennifer Jason Leigh's character in FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH.

Other homages included several extended sequences from GROSSE POINTE BLANK (itself about a ten year high-school reunion, and by the way, go see that movie if you haven't yet), and some that looked straight out of CARRIE.

The music took me back too. There was MmmmBop by Hanson, The Backstreet Boys, that Dawson's Creek song, and--in the best move--Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up, all while Sarah and Nicole Richie's character are in full-on girl fight. How can you ask for more than that? You just can't.

Heroes 3.6 - "Dying of the Light"

I meant to write about Heroes last week (the "Angels and Monsters" episode), then decided to wait until this week and fold all my thoughts into a column. Which, didn't happen. I suck. However, last week's episode was one of the best ever, and this week's did not disappoint. The two things I want to write a column about, which in my opinion elevate Heroes from typical genre fare, are the mythic nature of what we're seeing, and the family relationships. Boy, how that's coming home to roost. For three seasons we've wondered what was the deal with Peter and Nathan's father. Now we're seeing some of that come together. AND HE'S PLAYED BY THE IMMORTAL ROBERT FORSTER!!!!!

Still not sure what Papa Petrelli's power is, but it makes total sense he can steal other's powers, since Peter and Sylar are his sons. I so can't wait for the reunion/fight between Mama Petrelli and Papa Petrelli. I know some people have been upset at Peter seeming to veer toward the dark side, while Sylar tries to become good, but I think that's all part of the plan.

Think about it for a minute. These powers are like Apotheosis. In other words, these people have become unto like gods. That kind of power has to be very tempting, in all sorts of ways. That kind of power has to tap into our best instincts, and our worst. It is consistent, the way I understand it, that some Heroes would be temped to the Dark side, and some Villains would try to find redemption.

Think about any of the classic mythology tales. Basically those folks are humans with god-like powers. How many of them do good all the time? How many are purely evil? Are they not tempted like the rest of us? And why would powers make that any less the case?

Anyway, I am digging this Villains arc they're on. I like the interplay between what's good and what's evil, and I don't need my villains to always wear dark hats and stay in their cage. It doesn't bother me in the slightest that Sylar might try to change. This show works as metaphor much more than as real. You watch it as real, but obviously can't delve too deeply (or it would fall apart). I don't have a problem with that. Most of the world's greatest literature has always worked the same way; involving ourselves on multiple levels.

As far as characters go, I usually spend half my time annoyed to pieces at about half the characters. For me the last year that's been Claire, who is so whiny and ungrateful I would shoot her (if it would do any good), and Matt Parkman bores me to death too. Not to mention which, who is watching Molly with Parkman in African and Mohinder completely unhinged?

I continue to love Hiro/Ando, especially the comic relief stuff. I totally called last week when he stabbed Ando as a set-up. Some of the one-liners were hysterical, like when that speedy chick Daphne sends Hiro and Ando after the African precog (who can paint the future), but warns them.

"That's the trouble with pre-cogs. They see you coming."

Then when Ando sees one of the paintings on the rock of Hiro, he quips, "Ah, they all look alike to me." Hilarious! That was topped only by Hiro searching after the African pre-cog, going, "Mr. African Ee-sak?" I guess you have to know Hiro for that to be funny.

Whatever funk Heroes might have been in, they definitely have their mojo back. I desperately need to write a big column about it, for new people. If you don't watch Heroes, and happened to stumble in, GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING! You won't be sorry.

My Own Worst Enemy 1.2 - "Hummingbird"

I was going to do my very best not to make a cheesy analogy here, but with the title of tonight's episode, I feel I have no choice? When it comes to MOWE, much like a cheap hooker, I'm in all the way, and very quickly at that. I keep waiting (hoping?) this show will suck, but the first two episodes were fantastic.

Tonight might have been even better than the pilot, mostly because "Edward" performs the "Hummingbird" on Henry's wife (in case you're new, Henry and Edward are split personalities, so the poor wife didn't realize), and after Henry objected, apparently they did something even dirtier! Anyone who doesn't know the Hummingbird, well, I just feel sorry for them. But I'm kinda wondering what the "even dirtier" thing is.

So, in the first episode we learned that Edward is a remorseless secret agent for some unnamed secret government agency who--for unknown reasons--had an alter identity--"Henry"--put in his brain. Henry lives his normal (to him) life, complete with wife and kids, and whenever the agency needs him, "Edward" is reactivated. Except, the problem, is that Edward/Henry's chip is malfunctioning, and you never know which personality will appear. This means normal confused Henry popping up during missions, and confident Edward popping up (literally, I guess) in bed with Henry's wife.

Got that? It's not nearly as confusing as it sounds, but it's Hell-cool.

In this episode Henry continues to be obsessed with figuring out what has happened to him, not content with the idea that he's a manufactured personality only 19 years old, and fake at that. Henry pours through old family movies, trying to connect with his past, only to learn that most of it is fake. We see the show through Henry's point of view more than Edward's, so even though Henry might be the construction, our sympathies are with him. Then again, Henry is a bit of a whiny baby. Edward seems more interesting--in and out of bed--in every way.

Also cool: we see more of Mike O'Malley, another agent with a manufactured personality. I wrote last week that I am a fan of O'Malley, but usually he plays funny. Here he plays straight, grim even, and he's fantastic at it. We also met the big boss, at least the biggest so far, played by super-asshole (at least on screen) James Cromwell. If anyone can lend instant dignified menace, it's him.

What can I tell you? I wasn't looking for a new show to like, and I have never been a fan of Christian Slater, but I am totally liking My Own Worst Enemy so far. My advice is to take 90 minutes and catch up on the first two episodes (nbc.com, hulu.com, imdb.com). I think you'll be glad you did.

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving Monday night, for reasons best explained in the link. Anyway, because of that, I didn't get to watch Monday's TV Monday. I did happen to flip through quickly (looking to see the baseball and football scores), and happen to catch about 1 minute right in the middle of the pilot for My Own Worst Enemy. It look stupid, and I mentally crossed the show off as one fewer I would need to watch and review.

However, I'm really trying to give this TV Warrior thing a go, and part of that means to no pre-judge, so I managed to watch catch up last night.

The first episode was quite awesome, which really pisses me off.

[In Describing the show, I will be giving away spoilers, so if you want to find out for yourself, watch online at hulu.com, nbc.com or imdb.com, or USA is re-running the pilot tonight at Midnight, as is Sci-Fi Channel (for some reason) Friday at 7:00.)

Series Premiere: 1.1 - "Breakdown"

Think: Alias meets The Manchurian Candidate, or Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Bond




The premise: Christian Slater has a split personality. One half is Henry Spivey, married with two kids and with a boring job that sends him on business trips all over the country. The other half is Edward Albright, super-spy for secret government organization (a veritable cottage industry these days), who has no problem bedding sexy French spies and then killing them. (If I could find a scantily clad picture of her, I would include it here. Oh how I have tried.)

I know what you're thinking: what a great excuse to sleep with other women! Sadly, I don't think the excuse "but my other personality is a spy!" is going to fly, but try it and let me know how it works out.

It is a pretty decent idea for a show, though, and Christian Slater is a pretty good choice to play the guy. He's always seemed half crazy to me anyhow. I have to give him props for how effortlessly he switches back and forth between the personas.

I should mention that he doesn't just "snap out of it." The whole normal guy personality is (supposedly) tightly controlled, and is completely unaware of the spy persona. Edward (the spy) is aware of Henry's existence, but has no memory or control of what the nice guy does, either.



That sounds confusing, but it's really not. What makes matters worse is that normal guy Henry is "dreaming" about spy Edward's exploits, a fact he shares with his luscious psychiatrist Saffron Burrows. (Who you may have enjoyed in THE BANK JOB, and is mentioned mainly to give me an excuse to post a hot picture.)



Speaking of hot chicks, not only is the Bang-then-Bangbang spy at the beginning supremely hot, but Henry's wife is Madchen Almick, who may be the hottest yet. (Yes, I mentioned that only so I could post her photo. She also has done much movie nudity, which, sadly, I cannot post, but you should be able to find it yourself. I'm here to help.)

Another one of the "agents" is played by a much older looking Mike O'Malley. (I guess 122 episodes of Yes Dear will do that to you.) I have always liked O'Malley's comedic timing, but in the pilot he plays totally straight. It will be interesting to see what they have in mind for this character. Other "work characters" are played byAlfre Woodard, who runs the operation, and the legendary Mindy Sterling, as Henry's "Secretary" who keeps everything in place, and the requisite tech/nerd (who I didn't recognize, but that means nothing, since no one knew how great Marshall was until he showed up on Alias). Both women are gifted actors, which bodes well.

I don't really know how the show will unfold. The plot gives us a lot of exposition about how Edward/Henry came to be. Perhaps the biggest surprise is that super-spy Edward is not the alter-ego, but Henry is! Why would a spy create a normal "boring" guy who just has a normal life? I don't know, but that idea intrigued me.

Of course that intrigue is also blown out of the water right off since the plot involves Henry finding out about all this. Will Henry just have to exist, knowing what he knows, "accidentally" showing up on missions when Edward should be the one handling things? Or is there something else going on?

Again, I don't know, and to be honest, I am not sure how long the premise can hold up to strict scrutiny. To be sure: I'm positive the psychiatrist is more than she seems, and possibly Henry's wife is too. (Or will be.) Still, this seems like the kind of show best set up for one season, not 5. Sadly, we knowthat's not how the Economics of Hollywood and Broadcast TV is set up.

But I'm getting way ahead of myself. The bottom line is: the pilot episode of My Own Worst Enemy was good, perhaps shockingly so. The spy stuff was cool, but there was also a menace and implied level of violence that departs from recent forays on the subject. Alias was violent, to be sure, but there was always a slight "fairy-tale" aspect to things. My Own Worst Enemy seems more like grim-reality. You know, as much as impossible sleeper-agents who rub up against beautiful women can be.

It's only been one episode, but that one episode is good enough to recommend that you check out the pilot yourself and see what you think. So far so good.