What's Alan Watching?

Fox upfront, take one

2008-05-15T11:25:00.001-04:00

The conference call with Peter Liguori and Kevin Reilly is in a few minutes, so I have to be really quick. Preliminary thoughts on the Fox sked, plus a full list of both the fall and spring skeds, coming up after the jump...

So, some initial thoughts:

This is much less convoluted than the average Fox schedule. There are officially only two different skeds: one for the fall, and one for when "Idol" comes back. There's some noodling in the spring with the cartoons, but they're not announcing 87 different iterations of the sked, none of them remotely resembling what will actually happen.
Not surprisingly, both the J.J. Abrams-produced "Fringe" and the Joss Whedon-produced "Dollhouse" (pictured above) made it onto the schedule, with the former getting the benefit of airing after "House" and the latter getting to be the lead-in to "Idol." Not sure if either show is compatible with Fox's biggest hits, but you can't say they're not putting them in good timeslots.
That said, they keep claiming that "Bones" will one day air Fridays at 8 at mid-season, and it hasn't really come to pass yet. Think it will this year?
Not mentioned below, the "24" prequel movie (setting up the events of the next season) will air on November 23.
"5th Grader" and "Don't Forget the Lyrics!" do decently on Thursdays despite tough competition from the other networks. By moving them to Friday, Fox could have their first passable Friday schedule since "X-Files" moved to Sundays.
I know it was announced a while ago, but they're really devoting an entire series to Cleveland from "Family Guy"?
Other than the continued existence of "'Til Death," this looks a lot more like a Fox schedule than the last few years of CBS-lite stuff they've been doing. Lots of dramas that are either serialized, science fiction, or both, even more animated comedies, and more reality on the official schedule.

Gotta jump on the call. Here's the schedule(s):

FOX PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: FALL 2008

(All Times ET/PT)

MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES
9:00-10:00 PM PRISON BREAK

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-9:30 PM ‘TIL DEATH
9:30-10:00 PM DO NOT DISTURB (wt)

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM THE MOMENT OF TRUTH
9:00-10:00 PM KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5th GRADER?
9:00-10:00 PM DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS!

SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 PM-Midnight MADtv
Midnight-12:30 AM TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

SUNDAY
7:00-8:00 PM THE OT (NFL post-game)
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD

FOX PRIMETIME SCHEDULE: BEGINNING JANUARY 2009

(All Times ET/PT)

MONDAY
8:00-9:00 PM DOLLHOUSE
9:00-10:00 PM 24

TUESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM AMERICAN IDOL
9:00-10:00 PM FRINGE

WEDNESDAY
8:00-9:00 PM HOUSE
9:00-9:30 PM AMERICAN IDOL Results Show
9:30-10:00 PM TBA Comedy

THURSDAY
8:00-9:00 PM HELL’S KITCHEN
9:00-10:00 PM SECRET MILLIONAIRE

FRIDAY
8:00-9:00 PM BONES
9:00-9:30 PM ‘TIL DEATH
9:30-10:00 PM DO NOT DISTURB (wt)

SATURDAY
8:00-8:30 PM COPS
8:30-9:00 PM COPS
9:00-10:00 PM AMERICA’S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK
11:00 PM-Midnight MADtv
Midnight-12:30 AM TALKSHOW WITH SPIKE FERESTEN

SUNDAY
7:00-7:30 PM COMEDY ENCORES
7:30-8:00 PM COMEDY ENCORES
8:00-8:30 PM THE SIMPSONS
8:30-9:00 PM KING OF THE HILL (January) / SIT DOWN, SHUT UP (wt) (spring)
9:00-9:30 PM FAMILY GUY
9:30-10:00 PM AMERICAN DAD (January) / THE CLEVELAND SHOW (wt) (spring)

All TV: CBS Upfront

2008-05-15T07:03:00.002-04:00

Today's column goes into the CBS schedule (including "The Ex List," pictured above) in slightly more detail.

I should know all about the Fox schedule -- or, given their usual MO, schedules -- by lunchtime today.

American Idol: Top 3 elimination

2008-05-14T22:02:00.004-04:00

Made it home from a day of attending various CBS upfront-related events just in time to catch the final five minutes of the "American Idol" results show. Uber-brief spoilers coming up after the jump...

UPDATE: After posting this, several people suggested I go back and check out Fantasia's performance -- and, specifically, Simon's befuddled/horrified reaction to it. I think the picture above kind of speaks for itself. Splendid. Sanjaya never even puzzled him as much as that number did.

In a surprise to absolutely no one, including the eliminated Syesha, we're going to have the David vs. David finale.

Feel free to discuss anything interesting that happened during the results show. I'm going to spend a few days ruminating on exactly how much, if anything, I want/need to retract from my "David Archuleta is going to win" column from the start of the finals.

CBS upfront, take one

2008-05-14T10:18:00.004-04:00

The CBS schedule is out, and you can read the full release here. My initial thoughts coming up after the jump...

So, the major changes:

"Moonlight" and "Shark" both failed to make the cut among the bubble shows, while "The Unit" did (and is moving to Sundays at 10). When I asked Nina Tassler if the "Jericho" experience had made her gunshy about listening to the, um, vocal fans of fringe shows like that and "Moonlight," she said, "It was a factor, obviously... It was a passionate fanbase, and that's not a bad thing. It's just hard to translate that into numbers."
Speaking of "The Unit," Nina said they're going to take the female characters off-base more, and that there won't be quite as much focus on the military missions. Both ideas came from Shawn Ryan and David Mamet, and not from the network, apparently.
"How I Met Your Mother" survives and stays where it is; the sense I get is that renewal was never in doubt after the first Britney episode, and that some CBS execs just don't want to announce all their pick-ups ahead of time.
"New Adventures of Old Christine" not only survives, but gets to lead off a night, as the network tries, once again, to set up a comedy bloc on Wednesdays. It'll be paired with "Project Gary" (pictured above), with Jay Mohr and the lovely and talented but undeniably show-killing Paula Marshall.
"The Ex-List," with Elizabeth Reaser (Jane Doe from "Grey's Anatomy") goes Fridays at 9, which, coincidentally, was the same timeslot (Fridays at 9) for the last show created by Diane Ruggiero, "That's Life." (In between, she was Rob Thomas' lieutenant on "Veronica Mars.") And Simon Baker's new show, "The Mentalist," gets the same timeslot (Tuesdays at 9) as his first CBS show, "The Guardian."
Tuesdays at 10 has been a snakebit timeslot ever since "Judging Amy" went away (among its victims was "Smith," featuring Simon Baker and whatever happened to Ray Liotta's face), and so the network's putting old reliable "Without a Trace" there.
"Amazing Race" gets two seasons; prepare, once again, for the fall edition to be disrupted a lot by football overruns.
"Rules of Engagement" will be back at mid-season.

Beyond that, what strikes me is that, last year at this time, CBS was talking about how they were ready to try new and edgy shows -- a musical! a mob serial! a vampire thriller! a period drama about swingers! -- and this year they've gone back to being CBS. Probably better for everyone; I haven't watched "Swingtown" yet (because of the strike, it won't debut until next month), but "Viva Laughlin," "Cane" and "Moonlight" were all pretty awful.

I'll have a more formalized analysis of all this up hopefully later today. "Reaper" review is going to have to wait, maybe until tomorrow, as I didn't get to see it yet and don't think the computer in our New York office is optimal for streaming video.

American Idol: Top 3 performances

2008-05-13T21:54:00.000-04:00

"American Idol" spoilers coming up just as soon as I write a song about a cockatoo just to drive Simon nuts...

With the exception of last season, when Melinda got the boot, the pecking order has clearly been established by the time we get to top 3 night. Everyone in that theater -- including Syesha -- knew that it's going to be an all-David final, just like fans in season two knew Kimberley Locke had no chance of advancing (even though she outsang both guys that night), just like Vonzell Solomon had no shot against Carrie and Bo in season four, etc. So what makes the night interesting -- albeit a bit less so since Sith lord Clive Davis stopped participating -- is to see, through the three choices for each contestant, what kind of sound the judges, the producers and the contestants' themselves think is an ideal fit.

In order...

JUDGE'S CHOICE

David Archuleta, "And So It Goes": Paula was lucid long enough to recognize that little David enjoys singing sincere, earnest ballads that function as sonic Tylenol PM, and so she chose one of the duller songs from the Billy Joel catalog. (And one where the only interesting part of the song comes from a world weariness on the part of the piano man that young David doesn't remotely possess.) Technically a fine performance, I guess, but wake me when he's got the crown (or when crazy stage dad Jeff is busy flipping out in the event of a Cook win).

Syesha Mercado, "If I Ain't Got You": Randy has two different levels of R&B divas: the untouchable Whitneys and Mariahs (though he did give Melinda a Whitney song last year), and then the Alicia Keys types whom he worships but wants to hear contestants sing. Syesha starts off okay, and admirably restrained for her -- there's a moment early in the chorus where her voice blends in with the backup singers as well as anyone on the show other than Melinda -- but then she has to go to her shouty place, followed by an annoying, triling falsetto at the end.

David Cook, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face": Simon is smart enough to recognize that most of David's big successes have come on songs you never would have expected him to choose ("Hello," "Billie Jean," "Always Be My Baby") and hands him a Roberta Flack love song. Much like last week's "Hungry Like the Wolf" David doesn't change it up nearly as much as he has some other tunes. It's a power ballad take on Flack, but still pretty faithful to the original. His falsetto, unlike Syesha's, sounds great (and not needlessly show-offy). Good performance, but I feel like I've seen/heard him do something like this a lot of times already.

CONTESTANT'S CHOICE

David Archuleta, "With You": Good for David -- or for his creepy stage dad Jeff (who was barred from certain aspects of the show this week, but not so many that he would have had no say in this choice) -- for recognizing that the 80-year-old ballads were getting stale. On the other hand, this performance was another reminder of why he's better off staying in his ballad box. Not only was it disturbing to hear him singing about his "boo" (not a black/white thing; a soul/Archuleta thing), but he kept running out of breath, even though he wasn't moving much more than usual. Not a disaster on the level of "We Can Work It Out," but not good. The start of the semi-finals was so long ago, but didn't he sound good on the uptempo "Shop Around"?

Syesha Mercado, "Fever": I think the judges totally missed it with their complaints that this choice didn't show who Syesha is. This is exactly who she is: a pretty, slightly above-average vocally, cabaret performer. Paris Bennett sang rings around this version when she did it in season five, but at this point, Syesha has decided to embrace her inner vamp, wear as many flattering and sparkly dresses as possible, and turn her final weeks on the show into an open audition for any Broadway parts where an ex-"Idol" finalist might be a box office draw. And I at least appreciate that she doesn't give us the same performance nearly every time out, which is more than you can say at this stage for either David.

David Cook, "Dare You To Move": Despite his billing as this season's "rocker," David is a very specific kind of rocker, leaning more towards mournful power balladeering than anything that might inspire the sorority girls in the mosh pit to, you know, mosh. (Though I doubt they, or Nigel, would tolerate any actual moshing, no matter the song.) And so we get another slow builder, like last week's "Baba O'Riley," where he sounds fine, but where the arrangement is just starting to build momentum when the 90-second limit runs out. Another solid but very predictable performance from big David.

PRODUCERS' CHOICE

David Archuleta, "Longer": With all due respect to the several members of my extended family who love Dan Fogelberg enough to have made this their wedding song, there may be no more coma-inducing song to ever make the Top 40 -- which, of course, makes it an ideal L'il Archie joint. I couldn't even tell you whether David had any problems with the lyrics or the notes, as I came to the end of this one feeling like I was just waking up from the anesthetic after dental surgery. One question: is this what Nigel and company actually want to hear on David's first record, or have they just come to understand, like the rest of us, that it's the only kind of song he can sing?

Syesha Mercado, "Hit Me Up: After her Peggy Lee tune in the last round, the producers obviously wanted something more contemporary, but most of this featured Syesha at her shrillest. Also, a complaint for the director: if someone's doing a song with a bunch of dance breaks, could you maybe avoid cutting to the drummer or the back-up singers every time the singer starts to move? Particularly the only contestant this season who actually knows how to move? (In fairness, though, the back-up singers were the only good thing about this one.)

David Cook, "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing": "One of the greatest songs of all time"?!?!?! Really, Simon? I get that he's on the panel not because he has great taste but because he has great instincts for what will sell, but this song is a massive, artery-clogging piece of cheese. The arrangement's not quite the same as the original, which is probably a good thing, because Steven Tyler is a sort of male equivalent of Whitney for this show (see what happened to Michael Johns with "Dream On"). That said, it felt, again, like the same performance David's given us for a few months now. At a baseline level, I vastly prefer David C's schtick to David A's, but the longer the season goes on, the more he starts to seem like yet another "Idol" one-trick pony.

Best of the night: Nothing really moved me, I hate to say.

In trouble: Melinda going home was a mild surprise last year, but that wouldn't be half as shocking as Syesha outlasting either David. Congratulations on sticking around at least a month past when anybody thought you'd make it; now it's time to pack your knives and go.

What did everybody else think?

All TV: ABC, CW upfronts

2008-05-13T18:35:00.001-04:00

CW's schedule announcement is official (including the "90210" remake, pictured above), and I have details on both that and the ABC upfront in a column over at NJ.com.

My best day ever so far, by Joe

2008-05-13T10:40:00.003-04:00

In the recent Bissinger vs. blogs discussion, I mentioned Kansas City Star sportswriter Joe Posnanski as one of the best sports bloggers on the planet. Joe has a great entry up on his blog today, describing the best story he ever covered in person, and how it eventually threatened to become too good for his purposes. One of the readers even dug up a copy of the column Joe write and posted it in the comments. I've never written sports, but I've had days in my career where a story I was covering became so rich with detail that I didn't know what to do with it all. Joe's a hell of a writer, in print and online, so even if you don't know or care about sports in general or Greco-Roman wrestling in particular, it's absolutely worth the read.

ABC upfront, take one

2008-05-13T09:17:00.000-04:00

Between the number of shows picked up months ago, the minimum of new shows on the schedule (most of ABC's shows in development haven't shot pilots yet) and all the leaked news about stuff like the "Scrubs" move, not a big Wow factor to the ABC schedule announcement. Thoughts and breakdown coming right up...

I'll have the full fall schedule at the end, but the highlights, such as they are:

"Scrubs," as we all knew, is moving to ABC, but won't be on the schedule until sometime in mid-season.
"Boston Legal" comes back for a final season (looks like only 13 episodes); Steve MacPherson didn't say anything about cast changes.
"Boston Legal" returning was part of the deal to pick up the "Life on Mars" remake (pictured above), since David E. Kelley was attached to produce at one point; he reportedly gave up his stake in the show in exchange for his other show coming back. The "October Road" producers will be running "Life on Mars" now; it gets the network's best timeslot (sort of; expectations are obviously much higher) after "Grey's Anatomy."
Only other new show on the fall schedule is an Ashton Kutcher-produced game show, "Opportunity Knocks."
"Eli Stone" comes back but doesn't get the traditional Monday at 10 timeslot that ABC generally gives to low-rated dramas it unexpectedly renewed. That goes to "Boston Legal," while "Eli Stone" goes to Tuesdays at 10.
The Wednesday lineup -- "Pushing Daisies," "Private Practice," "Dirty Sexy Money" -- not seen since the strike, returns intact.
"Lost" back at midseason, with an extra episode to make up for one of the ones lost by the strike.
"According to Jim," somehow still not dead. Why?!?!??!?!!?!?!?!

Fall schedule, night by night:
DAY TIME SERIES

MONDAY: 8:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars”
9:30 p.m. “Samantha Who?”
10:00 p.m. “Boston Legal”

TUESDAY: 8:00 p.m. “Opportunity Knocks”
9:00 p.m. “Dancing with the Stars the Results Show”
10:00 p.m. “Eli Stone”

WEDNESDAY: 8:00 p.m. “Pushing Daisies”
9:00 p.m. “Private Practice”
10:00 p.m. “Dirty Sexy Money”

THURSDAY: 8:00 p.m. “Ugly Betty”
9:00 p.m. “Grey’s Anatomy”
10:00 p.m. “Life on Mars”

FRIDAY: 8:00 p.m. “Wife Swap”
9:00 p.m. “Supernanny”
10:00 p.m. “20/20”

SATURDAY: 8:00 p.m. “Saturday Night College Football”

SUNDAY: 7:00 p.m. “America’s Funniest Home Videos”
8:00 p.m. “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
9:00 p.m. “Desperate Housewives”
10:00 p.m. “Brothers & Sisters”

Fire away with any questions.

All TV: Jimmy Fallon gets 'Late Night,' upfronts preview

2008-05-13T07:40:00.000-04:00

Today's column rehashes the official Jimmy Fallon/"Late Night" announcement, and looks ahead to the rest of Upfront Week. ABC makes its announcement in about a half hour, so look for thoughts on that later this morning.

House, "House's Head": Fly in the ointment

2008-05-12T22:00:00.006-04:00

Spoilers for part one of the "House" season finale coming up just as soon as I enjoy a bottle of Beer-brand beer...

In my column today, I compared "House's Head" to season two's finale, "No Reason." Mo Ryan, meanwhile, compared it to season one's "Three Stories," still probably the strongest "House" episode ever. Whichever comparison you prefer, it's hard not to hold "House's Head" up against some of the series' previous head trips and wonder if perhaps the writers aren't going to this well too often, with diminishing returns. It's one thing to repeat the show's basic formula in dozens of iterations, but what made "Three Stories" work was how unusual it was. If they're going to go off-format, I'd rather it be in a new way (say, "Airborne") then giving us yet another episode that takes place largely inside the main character's brain.

I had several issues with this one beyond the repetitiveness. First, I never felt like they provided a good reason for why House didn't keep doing the hypno-therapy with Chase. From a writing/production standpoint, I imagine it was more interesting to have him try several different methods of unlocking his memories, but there was never a good in-show rationale, especially as the other methods became increasingly dangerous.

Second, Amber's random appearance during the hypnosis/bar scene was a flashing red light about who the missing injured person was, and if I wasn't already leaning towards her then, I was by the time House's fantasy gal pointed to the fly necklace. (Once you've read/seen "Jurassic Park," it's impossible not to think of the concept of bugs in amber.) "House" is, at heart, a mystery, and when the show telegraphs the solution, it isn't half as entertaining.

Third, while Lisa Edelstein certainly has a rockin' bod, and while the punchline about House's subconscious overruling his prurient desires was funny, Cuddy's striptease was there just to have something to put in a promo. And, as I figured, there was no attempt to follow up on House's epiphany last week about how maybe Cuddy needs to keep him on a tighter leash. As with so many developments on this series -- particularly any that suggest House's behavior might change -- it was ignored as soon as it got in the way of the plot. (Note: I'm not saying that I want House's behavior to change, but I'm tired of all the bogus suggestions that it's going to.)

So, a few questions to ponder until the conclusion next week:

What were House and Amber doing at the bar together? I think it's been clear he's been attracted to her ever since she got with Wilson, but is it something as simple and sleazy as House having an affair with his best friend's girlfriend? And if that's the case -- and especially if Amber dies as a result -- can Wilson ever forgive him? Or will that relationship be back at status quo by episode two or three next season?
Was House's joke about Cuddy not knowing Thirteen's name supposed to imply that Hadley isn't her last name, or just that he prefers to think of her as Thirteen?

What did everybody else think?

HIMYM, "Everything Must Go": G-CWOK tested, dog approved

2008-05-12T21:58:00.000-04:00

"How I Met Your Mother" spoilers coming up just as soon as I buy a gross of Hefty bags...

Stunt-casting: the deal with the devil.

On the one hand, if I'm right that CBS is going to include "HIMYM" on the fall schedule it announces on Wednesday, Ms. Britney Spears will be a big reason why. The show was already up in the ratings the week before "Ten Sessions," but Brit-Brit's cameo as Abby gave the show its best numbers ever and likely went a long way towards convincing any skeptical CBS executives that they might just want to renew it even if they don't "get" it.

Britney's presence was so minimal in "Ten Sessions," and the appearance such an obvious win-win for both parties ("HIMYM" got a ratings boost, Britney got to look physically and mentally healthy), that I had no problem with it at the time. But in Hollywood, there's no such thing as leaving well enough alone. Britney's first appearance gave the show its best ratings ever, so why not bring her back a second time? Or, as rumor has it, a third time next year?

Why not? Simple: because the more screen time you give her, the more Britney's limited comic chops are exposed, and the more "HIMYM" begins to resemble the tired old sitcoms it's usually so much better than. There wasn't a second of the Barney/Abby storyline this time that felt like something natural to the show, as opposed to something the writers had to cook up to include (and protect) Britney again. Neil Patrick Harris is a wondrous comic talent, but he can't carry that much dead weight(*) for an entire episode.

(*) Note: that wasn't a fat joke. Britney looked great, actually. She's just not very funny, and not up to NPH's level. She's not even up to Larry Wilmore's level, as the "Bernie Mac" creator/"Daily Show" correspondent made me laugh more in his 90 seconds or so on-camera (as Dr. Greer) than Britney did all episode.

Fortunately, though Britney's screen time was increased over "Ten Sessions," the writers were still smart enough to put her in the B-story, while Jason Segel and Alyson Hannigan got to take the A-story, about Marshall losing faith in Lily's art and then finding a way -- with the help of some very attentive dogs -- to restore Lily's faith in him. It still wasn't an outrageously funny plot (and the runner within it about Ted's flaming red cowboy boots veered dangerously close to seeming like latter-era Ross from "Friends"), but it at least felt true to the characters, and in addition to Larry Wilmore, I liked the guys playing the G-CWOK's (Gay Couple Without Kids). Plus, Lily occasionally losing her patience with her kindergarten class works.

A few other notes:

As Segel and Hannigan said at episode's end, LilyandMarshallSellTheirStuff.com is a real website designed to raise money for an LA children's hospital, but the CharityFolks.com servers clearly weren't expecting an influx of web-savvy "HIMYM" fans, because I haven't been able to get the page to load since it was first mentioned. Also a real website: GuyForcesHisWifeToDressInAGarbageBagForTheNextThreeyears.com (complete with more ridiculous/creepy theme music!)
Someone on the staff is a big "Cheers" fan. (And why wouldn't they be?) Not only did Barney and Abby's cab ride include an homage to the most famous Sam/Diane scene of all time ("Are you as turned on right now as I am?" "More!"), but the frame on Lily's painting that the G-CWOKs bought was made by Anton Kreitzer, which was Norm's pseudonym in the episode where he hired a lazy crew for his painting business.

What did everybody else think?

All TV: Amanda from MTV's 'The Paper' speaks, 'House' review

2008-05-12T07:35:00.000-04:00

In today's column, I confront my newfound devotion to MTV's "The Paper," and talk to the show's star, Amanda, about the experience of filming it:

A few months away from aging out of MTV's target demographic, I find myself riveted by programming on the channel for the first time since "The Real World" allowed in anything but unemployed boozehounds. "The Paper" (10:30 p.m., MTV), about the staff of an award-winning high school newspaper in Florida, is addictive not just because I work in newspapers (and was editor of my own high school paper), but because it does such an excellent job of capturing the emotional turmoil, casual cruelty and unexpected joys of high school life.

The show's tragic heroine is Amanda Lorber, the bespectacled editor in chief, whose promotion to the top job in the first episode led to a schism with other seniors who wanted the job. The bitter runners-up - including Amanda's one-time close friend Alex - have tried to undermine and subvert Amanda's authority at every turn, and are often seen cruelly making fun of her behind her back.

Though Amanda is shown to be bossy and not always socially graceful, the show is clearly on her side - tonight's episode frequently doubles back to show examples of how the other kids are liars and hypocrites in their dealings with her - and there are moments when "The Paper" can be as uncomfortable as a particularly squirmy episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or "The Office," or even certain Jane Austen adaptations on PBS.

One person who doesn't find the show tough to watch? Amanda herself.

To read the full thing -- including a short preview of tonight's "House" -- click here.

Survivor Micronesia finale: Sigh...

2008-05-11T22:20:00.003-04:00

Quick "Survivor" finale spoilers coming right up...

Ah, well... Parvati wins, 5-3 over Amanda. (What they would have done in the event of a tie?) On the one hand, she's one of the more odious people to ever appear on this show (twice). On the other, she deserved it over Amanda. Parvati's move to take out Ozzy (who was at Lex levels of bitterness at the final Tribal Council) was the defining one of the season, and though I hated to watch a lot of it, she and Cirie (who also would and should have beaten Amanda) orchestrated a series of agressive blindsides. If nothing else, I resigned myself to wanting Parvati to win it after Amanda broke out the crocodile tears at the penultimate Tribal. I don't doubt they were genuine, but it's a friggin' game, lady! To win a million dollars! You laughed and smiled and whooped when you voted other people out, and all of a sudden it's this great burden to do so?

Beyond that, I don't know what word on the street Probst has been hearing that calls this the best season since the first. Off the top of my head, I'd put Cook Islands, Palau, Pearl Islands, Australia and the Amazon ahead of this one. Like I said a few days ago, there were a lot of blindsides, but more often than not they were the result of stupid play as much as they were cleverness on the part of Cirie or Parvati. Plus, the amount of injuries and/or quitting takes away from my enjoyment of the thing, because things could have gone very differently had Jonathan not been evacuated, or if Chet's foot was doing just well enough that he stuck around to blindside Ozzy, etc.

Plus there's the whole BS "fans" concept, where I buy maybe three or four of them (Erik, Jason, Mikey B, maybe Tracey) as people who were genuine fans of the show, and the only two who made it very far were either too slow-witted or too starstruck to play a good game. I would have loved a season where a bunch of genuine, Rob Cesternino-style fans got to mix it up with veterans of the game. Instead, we got stuck with the likes of Joel and Kathy and Chet and Alexis.

There were parts of the season I enjoyed a lot, but overall, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, so much so that I'm not going to bother with the reunion. Feel free to discuss/summarize anything interesting that comes up there -- like Eliza explaining her (deciding) vote for Parvati -- in the comments.

What did everybody else think?

Doctor Who, "Planet of the Ood": To serve man

2008-05-10T19:40:00.000-04:00

Spoilers for "Doctor Who" coming up just as soon as I work on my arcade claw technique...

Ah, the Ood. I think I love saying "Ood" almost as much as David Tennant clearly does, and so I was glad to see them return and move to the forefront after their role as Satan's henchmen in a season two two-parter.

"Planet of the Ood" is a fairly straightforward story(*), but an emotionally strong one, thanks again to the increasingly lovable Donna Noble.

((*) It's also one in which, oddly, The Doctor and Donna aren't very relevant. Other than The Doctor disabling the mines around the Ood brain, everything else would have unfolded the same with or without them.)

I've talked the last few weeks about how Donna isn't starstruck by The Doctor and therefore able to call him on the carpet when necessary. Here, though, her clear eyes are more useful for the way she sees the predicament of the Ood. After being (very) briefly grossed-out by the appearance of the Ood in the snow, she gets her act together and not only comforts him, but seems concerned with a proper burial. Later, after encountering the imprisoned, un-lobotomized Ood, she immediately grasps the nature of their society and character based on the biology of their second, external brain. It's such a clever, empathetic insight that even The Doctor's impressed. If he and Donna don't do much in terms of affecting the events of the Ood rebellion, at least their presence is important as witnesses and explainers of the Oods' suffering.

Comedians often turn out to be superb dramatic actors (almost all of Robin Williams' good screen performances are in serious roles), and Catherine Tate is proving that to be true once again. Donna's comic moments are hit or miss (I liked her going back in the TARDIS to get her coat in the middle of Ten's big speech, but wasn't as wild with her derisively comparing the TARDIS to the rocket ship), but she absolutely nails the moments where Donna bears witness to the ugly truths of time and space. She's open enough to these new experiences that she wanted The Doctor to mind-meld with her (has he ever done that before?) so she could hear the Ood song, but human enough that she realized she couldn't bear to hear it for long. I liked Rose and liked Martha by the end of her run, but Donna is quickly turning into the most entertaining, compelling companion of the new run.

What did everybody else think?

Battlestar Galactica, "Faith": All your Basestars are belong to us

2008-05-10T19:13:00.001-04:00

"Battlestar Galactica" spoilers coming up just as soon as I subscribe to the podcast version of Baltar's radio show...

Well, I don't think anybody can complain about the lack of plot movement and revelations this week, can they?

Lots to digest, and even more to enjoy, in the second half of this two-parter.(*) The rag-tag fleet now has its very own rag-tag Basestar as an uneasy ally. Kara's visions have proven to have more substance than madness behind them, and now she and everyone else have heard the "harbinger of death" prediction that first came up in "Razor." D'Anna is going to be unboxed to finger the Final Five (much to the displeasure of Anders -- and, eventually I'm sure, Tory, Tigh and Tyrol) because the Final Five somehow come from the lost 13th Colony of humanity on Earth, and presumably know how to find the place.(**) And Laura, preparing to enter the undiscovered country(***), starts to realize that Baltar's monotheistic religion shouldn't be dismissed simply because Baltar is the one espousing it.

((*)Though, as the entire season is one long story arc this time, isn't the idea of a two-parter within that somewhat irrelevant?)

((**)And does this lend credence to Mo Ryan's theory that everyone is a Cylon?)

((***) Baltar uses that phrase in one of his radio sermons. So this means that, not only have the Colonies -- or, at least, the 13th Colony -- heard of Bob Dylan, but they've also heard of Shakespeare. That, or they're big "Star Trek VI" fans.)

But though "Faith" moves a number of pieces across the board, it also works as a powerful and frightening meditation on the nature of death -- and what may or may not be awaiting us in that undiscovered country -- in the "Galactica" universe.

The surviving members of the losing side of the Cylon civil war are now without the safety net of their resurrection ship, and have to, for the first time in their existence, deal with the knowledge that a download doesn't await their next death. (When Adama and Cain destroyed the last resurrection ship, the Cylons retreated for a very long time.) And for some of them, maybe that's not a bad thing. In the early goings of the series, the Cylons treated death as a minor inconvenience at best, a mere delay until they downloaded into a new body. During the New Caprica arc, Cavil suggested that each death takes an increasing physical toll on the next resurrection (he kept being reborn with migraines), and after one of the Sixes kills Barolay (one of Anders' old Pyramid teammates, as well as a top lieutenant in the New Caprica resistance), she admits that she never recovered emotionally from the way Barolay tortured and killed her back on that planet. Natalie pulling the trigger was the only way to salvage the proposed Cylon/human treaty, but it was also something of a mercy killing. Her sister couldn't live with the memories of what had been done to her. (And, like all the other Sixes, she was under the delusion that she was doing something good for humanity with the occupation, which in turn made her violent death sting all the more.) It takes a lot to produce a scene where two Sixes lock lips and not have it turn into every fanboy's fantasy, but that kiss was 100 percent tragic, and not erotic in the least.

Meanwhile, as Anders and Athena are trying to reconcile their human and Cylon loyalties (and as Anders gets his first prolonged exposure to his own kind), they're brought together, and then apart, by the random death of another Eight. Sharon, having just told her abandoned sisters that her philosophy is "You pick your side and you stick," can't bring herself to comfort the dying Eight, because she feels it would be a betrayal of her human roots. Anders, wondering who the frak he is, is the one to offer Sharon a bit of human/Cylon contact in her final moments.

We now pause for our weekly appreciation of the "Galactica" cast. Mary McDonnell's going to get her own section -- both because Laura has a separate storyline and because, wonderful as everyone else in the ensemble is, she inevitably leaves them in the dust -- but among the perfectly-acted moments this week: Helo's inner struggle and eventual relief as the clock reaches and then passes zero hour; the kiss of the Sixes; Anders wanting desperately to touch the baseship's controls to see what would happen; Gaeta asking Helo to blow off the mission to save his leg; and every single reaction of every character in the scene with the hybrid. The hybrid's speech patterns lend themselves to chaotic thought and chaotic action, and so of course we get relief and guilt and answers and destruction all in the space of seconds. How would you like to be Kara and be dealing with your harbinger of death destiny only moments after a shootout with an overly protective Centurion? These people don't get paid enough to play scenes like that.

Nor, frankly, do the writers, directors, crew, etc. I was going to prostrate myself in praise of that sequence, but because I was otherwise detained most of today, Todd VanDerWerff beat me to the punch:

The blood drips slowly into the water, spreading out like a work of abstract art, the wailing from the hybrid providing a backdrop for the action. There’s a sudden cut to a shot of the hybrid’s mouth open in the wail, red light and shadow flashing over it, before we cut to Starbuck leaning over the hybrid, demanding it tell her what it knows, the blood still filling its pool. After the hybrid gives up its information, Athena (also Park) cuts the power to it and everything goes dark, followed by another perfect cut, this time to the sick bay on Galactica, where Roslin (Mary McDonnell) and her new best friend Emily (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine vet Nana Visitor) sit talking about the world after this one, their silhouettes framed against the curtain around Emily’s space, the small light inside the only light in the room. For all the world, it feels as if Emily and Roslin are up late at night in the dorm, talking about what it all means, man—or it would, were Roslin not bald from her latest treatment and were Emily not so obviously decrepit.

It’s the intensely created scenes like this one that set Battlestar apart from most televised SF (from most television, period). The cuts and shots in the sequence are so jarring and then so, seemingly, peaceful that I was able to recall most of it strictly from memory, simply because the assemblage of the scene seemingly branded itself on my mind. Battlestar is great at marrying its big themes and weighty (occasionally ponderous) dialogue to images that specifically underline them. While much of the praise of the show focuses around the political themes of the scripts (and, indeed, that’s one of the best things about the show), the series’ direction, which occasionally reins in some way-too-big idea and brings it back down to Earth, keeps all of this moving and honest.

Hell of a scene. Hell of an episode.

Though the bulk of the episode is a continuation of the events of "The Road Less Traveled," the death/afterlife theme extends to a new/old subplot, as Laura and new friend Emily (Nana Visitor from Ron Moore's old "Deep Space Nine" stomping grounds, excellent) each try to come to grips with the knowledge that their cancers are winning. Though Laura distrusts Baltar more than any other person in the fleet distrusts him, seeing the light -- or darkness -- at the end of the tunnel coming up fast tends to make one question their belief systems, and Laura finds a way to separate messenger from message. (She's not the only one believing in something new; see Adama's confession at episode's end that his friendship with Laura has made this former atheist believe in something, even if he's not sure what.)

I sometimes run out of superlatives to describe Mary McDonnell's work on this show. So little is usually asked of actors on sci-fi shows -- and often, they're capable of giving only so much -- that, even within the amazing "Galactica" cast, her performance is continually the stand-out. Ordinarily, her flashy moments involve Laura showing her strength, pulling off the velvet glove to show the iron fist beneath it. What made her breakdown by Emily's bedside so shocking, and so moving, was that this was Laura Roslin, Airlocker-in-Chief, absolutely defenseless. Even without her hair, even clutching onto her chemo IV rig, she still seemed somehow regal, somehow in control of her slow, inevitable death. But in that moment when she recalled her mother -- another teacher, and another cancer victim -- she was powerless against her memories, and the knowledge that the same fate awaits her within months, or even weeks. I'd say "give that woman an Emmy," but we all know how that song goes with regards to genre shows, don't we?

Some other thoughts on "Faith":

Amazing work by Gary Hutzel and his visual FX team this week on the entire sequence in the floating Cylon graveyard. We saw something similar last season during the arc with the Cylon plague, but the wreckage looked worse and more spectacular this time around.
Once again, we're reminded that Sharon is the first Cylon to go against the rest of her models, and against her entire kind. There can be disadvantages to that: if Boomer hadn't gotten into bed with Cavil, the rest of the Two/Six/Eight batch wouldn't be in such sorry shape.
I know it's been the show's style in the past -- for aesthetic and budget reasons -- to make the Basestars seem like spartan, relatively empty places, with only a handful of skinjobs present in any one scene. In this case, though, it becomes unclear just how many Cylons of these three lines have survived Cavil's attack. Are the rest of the Sixes elsewhere on the ship, or are we down to Natalie, plus Caprica Six back on Galactica?
Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, as the hybrid, has always reminded me of someone else, but I couldn't put my finger on it until last night. For some reason, she sounds eerily like Laura Linney.
Kara and company broke down most of the hybrid's prophecy, but a few danglers: "A dying leader will know the truth of the opera house" (Roslin, obviously); "The children of the one reborn shall find their own country" (Kara's kids? Helo and Sharon's?); and, of course, "You are the harbinger of death, Kara Thrace. You will lead them all to their end." (Putting "end" one sentence after "death" implies they're one and the same, but what if "end" means "end of their journey"?)
I like that, even in the midst of her recent craziness and Helo's attempted mutiny, when Anders shot Gaeta, Kara immediately got herself together to be the first one to help treat Felix. He, of course, wasn't fond of her before, thanks to the events of "The Circle," and putting him in position to get his leg amputated ain't gonna help that friendship.
Unrelated to this episode, but I've been listening to the podcasts as quickly as Sci Fi posts them, and yesterday they put up the one for "Escape Velocity," two episodes ago. At the time, I and others got hung up on the sequence where Head Six explicitly picks Baltar up off the floor and makes it look like he's levitating, seeing it as confirmation that the Head characters are more than just illusions. In the podcast, Moore says he hadn't intended for the scene to necessarily look that way (either because he has different designs for the Head characters, or because he didn't want to give away the game so early in the final season), and so future episodes will operate under the idea that Baltar's miraculous rise looked far more ambiguous. Hmm...

What did everybody else think?

Scrubs, "My Princess": Bad magic

2008-05-09T10:37:00.000-04:00

Spoilers for the "Scrubs" finale -- the NBC finale, anyway -- coming up just as soon as I put some product in my hair...

You know what? I take back most of what I said in yesterday's column about not wanting to see another (mostly) full season. Because "My Princess" would have been a really lousy ending for a once-great series.

It was out-of-episode-order in a way that was far more jarring than Dr. Cox's disappearing/reappearing crew cut last year. After spending so much time building up to Kelso leaving his job, they then give us an episode that takes place before he quit? I get that the fantasy scenes might have made this seem like a more appropriate/promotable season-ender to NBC than last week's show, but this is the most annoying NBC continuity screw-up since Crosetti was dead on "Homicide" before the episode where he actually died.

Meanwhile, the promised "Princess Bride" homage turned out to be more of a generic fairy tale homage, with only one explicit reference to the movie (Cox the knight's "You're killing my friend. Prepare to die" gag). With the smoke monster, the episode was as much of an homage to "Lost" as it was to the adventures of Westley, Buttercup and Inigo.

But I would have forgiven either or both of those things if the episode was funny, and for the most part, it wasn't. (The staff finally figuring out how to deal with The Todd was a rare comic highlight.) I thought John C. McGinley and Christa Miller did a nice job with the pathos of the final moments (the revelation that, in the non-fairy tale version of the story, the beautiful maiden died), but very little in the episode lived up to or justified the effort and expense of translating all of the characters into the fairy tale world.

I don't know that all 18 ABC episodes are going to be satisfying, but I have to believe that the real finale Bill Lawrence wanted to do will be much better than this.

What did everybody else think?

Lost, "Cabin Fever": Break me off a piece of that Apollo bar

2008-05-09T09:47:00.001-04:00

Spoilers for "Lost" coming up just as soon as I chop down the same tree three times...

Sorry I didn't get this post up last night, but two factors came into play. First, I was exhausted and struggling to keep my eyes open by 11:05. Second, I felt I needed to sleep on the episode to make up my mind about it and figure out why "Cabin Fever" left me feeling oddly unsatisfied.

On paper, I should have loved an episode where almost all of the island scenes feature the trio of Locke, Ben and Hurley, where we finally got back to the freighter, and where the flashbacks were so rich with details about the island's mythology. And yet it left me a little cold, and as I was drifting off to sleep, I started to figure out why.

First, while we find out a lot of things in the flashbacks (more on those revelations below), those scenes functioned primarily on the level of filling in the blanks, rather than telling any kind of emotional story about Locke. The best flashback/flashforward stories provide both emotion and information and build to a climax; this was just a chronological accounting of all the ways the island affected John's life well before he came to it.

Second, while I love any opportunity to watch Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson play off each other, with some Jorge Garcia thrown in as a bonus, very little happened for a very long time in the present-day island scenes. They can't find the cabin, Locke has a dream (without needing to do a sweat lodge this time), they wander around some more, and they eventually find it. The last few minutes had some important material -- Ben finally admits that Locke has usurped his place as the island's protector, Locke has that disturbing encounter with Christian and Claire and is told he has to move the island -- but very little of consequence, plot or character-wise, happened until then.

Finally, the number of characters, and the number of separate locations where they're hanging out, is starting to disrupt each story's momentum a little. It's been three episodes -- and nearly two months, thanks to the strike -- since we've been on the freighter, and so I had to spend a lot of the early scenes there refreshing my memory about people's loyalties, what they knew, etc. Even in the early days of "Lost," the cast was so big that characters and storylines would frequently shift between background and foreground, but the show was less plot-driven in those days.

Still, with all those caveats, "Cabin Fever" had a number of great moments, and enough food for thought to make a meal.

Start with the surprise(*) return of Nestor Carbonell as the ageless Richard Alpert, hovering outside Locke's hospital room while he was still a preemie, and with the appearance of Matthew Abaddon as the man who puts the walkabout idea in Locke's head. In both cases, the first glimpse of their faces in unexpected places/times was chilling. (Alpert moreso than Abaddon, both because Carbonell had been gone so long due to being on "Cane," and because Reddick's voice is so distinctive that any "Wire" fan could tell it was him before the camera panned up to his face.) We know that Richard is on the side of the Others/Hostiles/anti-Dharma forces, and we've assumed that Abaddon is working for Widmore, but the idea that both were trying to get Locke to the island long before he actually went is a mind-bender.

((*) At least, it was a surprise to me, since I didn't read the episode description on my DVR -- which listed Carbonell by name -- nor did I pay attention to the guest star credits, where I assume both Carbonell and Lance Reddick were mentioned.)

Locke's survival as an extreme preemie in the late '50s (Buddy Holly's "Everyday," playing in the first scene, was recorded in 1957) shows, just as the misfires of Keamy's gun did, that the island has the ability to keep alive the people that it needs, even if they're not on the island -- or, in the case of Baby Locke, even if they haven't been to the island yet. Locke's been right all along: being on the island is his destiny, and it always has been. The teacher/guidance counselor who wants Teen Locke to go to the Mittelos science camp (which I'm guessing isn't really in Portland) becomes yet another person who we've seen telling Locke what he can't do, and again that person turns out to be wrong. Locke is a superhero of sorts -- or, depending on the island's nature and whether you think Ben or Widmore is the good guy -- a supervillain. He has powers (the fast healing, the visions, the general bad-assery), and he has a mission. All he needs is a cool logo on one of those blank t-shirts he wears. (Maybe he could be known as Geronimo Jackson, whose sticker we saw inside Teen Locke's locker.)

So here's the question: when Richard gives Kid Locke the list of objects and tells him he already owns one of them, is he implying some kind of divine island birthright, or is there some kind of time-travel loop involved? A lot of people who studied the screen captures of Jacob from his first appearance suggested his profile looked an awful lot like Terry O'Quinn's, and speculated that John is one day going to become Jacob (and then maybe Jingleheimer and Schmidt); was Richard's test another clue for that theory? And what object was Kid Locke supposed to pick? The Mystery Tales comic, whose story about a "hidden land" suggests the island? The vial of the same dirt/sand/ash that rings the area around Jacob's cabin? The Book of Laws? (Whose laws?) And if this is all a time-travel thing, then is Richard actually immortal, or does he just bounce around to different eras? And when Christian tells Locke that he needs to move the island, do they mean in time or in space?

Also, do the same people who so thoroughly analyzed the meaning of Faraday's rocket experiment want to figure out how it correlates to the freighter's doctor being killed several days after his corpse washed up on the beach? It's been at least three days since the events of "The Shape of Things to Come" (when the corpse washed up), if that helps your calculations at all.

As for the other events on the freighter, I'm assuming Keamy has some kind of dead man's switch strapped to his arm; when he warned the captain against killing him, he implied that everyone else would die along with him. I liked the moment where Lapidus complained to Michael about not revealing his true identity as an 815 survivor, as well as Desmond's refusal to ever set foot on that island again (he was there a lot longer than Sayid and company), but virtually everything that happened in those scenes was setting up things for the season's final few episodes.

Some other random thoughts:

Hurley sharing his candy bar with unlikely/unwanted ally Ben was a priceless bit of silent comedy. Emerson and Garcia both had a number of funny moments in this episode -- "Destiny, John? Is a fickle bitch?" being another highlight -- but the range of emotions playing over each man's face in that exchange was wonderful.
For all the meta humor this season about how no one ever answers a question, we actually did get an answer to Hurley's query about why someone would build a cabin in the jungle: Horace Goodspeed (last seen in the Ben origin story episode "The Man Behind the Curtain") wanted a getaway spot for himself and his wife. (And I still doubt we've seen the last of either Horace or Mrs. Goodspeed; the producers cast Doug Hutchison and Samantha Mathis in those roles for a reason.)
The "Lost" score, while always wonderful, has been fairly consistent in its themes over the years, but there were a few spots last night that sounded different from anything I remember hearing before. The first was the slasher movie-style sting right after the "What happened to them?" / "He did." exchange at the mass grave; the second was the '60s James Bond-style adventure theme playing as Sayid took the raft back towards the island.
I liked Kid Locke's drawing of Smokey killing someone; even back then, John had certain psychic powers.
Yet another in a long series of "Lost" shout-outs to "Star Wars": the merc killed by Smokey was named Mayhew; Peter Mayhew played Chewbacca.
What exactly has Christian done to Claire to put her in that creepy, blissed-out state?
What do you suppose the miracle was that Abaddon experienced? And if we're entertaining the idea that one character, through time-travel, could turn out to be another one, do we want to consider the possibility that Abaddon is really Taller Grown-Up Walt?

What did everybody else think?

30 Rock, "Cooter": The pen is mightier than the ketchup

2008-05-08T22:00:00.015-04:00

Spoilers for "Cooter," the "30 Rock" season two finale, coming up just as soon as I sell my shares in Sabor de Soledad's parent company...

The candle. The mother-flippin' candle under the lampshade. That may be my single favorite joke in the short but brilliant history of "30 Rock," and the highlight of the nearly-perfect "Cooter."

(I say "nearly" because the page rivalry stuff never quite works -- if it hadn't been for Pete's secret archery history, and Pete with a wig and mustache, the latest round of Kenneth vs. Donny would have been a complete waste this time -- and yet the rest of the episode was so wonderful that I didn't mind it.)

The candle gag symbolized so much of what makes "30 Rock," at its peak (which the show admittedly hasn't been at since the strike ended), the funniest comedy on TV. We start off with our first glimpse of the crumbling remnants of the show's version of the Bush administration -- bare bookshelves, the leaky ceiling that everyone's in denial about ("We've looked into it, and it's not"), no pens or other relevant office supplies, an appropriations meeting where everyone argues over the most ridiculous minutiae (whether "dam" is a swear word, whether Rome was, in fact, built in a day). In this Kubrick-meets-Gilliam bureaucratic nightmare (sort of the D.C. equivalent of the 12th floor at 30 Rock), Jack's brand of Reagan-era conservativm marks him as an admirable man of action, but then he turns out to be just as motivated by petty self-interest as everyone else, with his desire to go back to GE and wait for Geiss to wake up. And so as he delivers that stirring speech to Cooter about capitalism's power to heal the nation, it only serves him right that the big symbolic gesture to lift up the lampshade blows up in his face, just as it underscores how pathetic the current administration is supposed to be. Perfectly set up, perfectly executed by the director and Alec Baldwin, and funny every single time I've gone back to watch that scene again.

It helped to have Matthew Broderick around as Cooter Burger (aka James "It was a sandwich!" Reilly). It's taken me a while to make peace with Ferris Bueller growing up to play so many dweebs on stage and screen, but the Leo Bloom association worked here, even before the story turned into such a blatant "Producers" riff. I'm surprised, and pleased, that the Gay Bomb plan didn't turn into a straight "Springtime for Hitler" copy, where it succeeded to the point where Jack and Cooter became indispensible Bush aides. That would have been a little too easy, and the idea of the Gay Bomb going off in Cooter and Jack's presence (and as a payoff to Cooter's Jack-fueled desire for pens) better fit the surreal tone of the storyline. I imagine they'll work their way out of it somehow next season(*), but the image of the other guys in the room getting amorous in a hurry ("Let's do this thing!") was wonderful.

((*) That said, it would be nice to see Edie Falco -- whose return as CC was a pleasant surprise -- show up while Jack is still experiencing the Bomb's effects so she can taunt him about the whole "and, as we broke up before it was my birthday..." whining from Jack's trip to her office.)

Robert Bianco at USA Today, whom I like and often agree with, wasn't a fan of the finale, or any of the other post-strike episodes (which you know I've had issues with), complaining that the show has been hurt by its increasing push towards farcical anarchy (he compares it at one point to "Family Guy"). Specifically, he takes issue with the writing of Liz:

The chief blame for the decline rests with Tina Fey and her fictional counterpart, Liz Lemon. At one point tonight, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) asks Liz, "Do you know what it's like to be the only one who cares about your job?"

There was a time when the payoff would have depended on our knowledge that Liz did, indeed, know what that was like. But now it leads to a joke about a missed period — and leads viewers to ask when exactly was the last time Liz showed any interest in her job at all. A woman who at least used to try to make her show better has spent the spring dragging through outlandish romantic entanglements and going ballistic over missing sandwiches.

Liz doesn't have to be sane, but when she's as unstable as the nuts circling around her, you get a show that plays more like a barely related series of sketches than a sitcom.

Now, I don't disagree that the show hasn't focused much of late on Liz's actual running of "TGS," but I never found that to be the strongest part of "30 Rock." Beyond that, though, I think a slightly-unhinged Liz takes better advantage of Tina Fey's growing acting gifts, in the same way that Jack's slight disconnect from reality plays to Baldwin's genius. And even in the midst of a very broad, ridiculous story involving the return of Dennis ("'Pre' -- before. 'Natal' -- ruined."), bull semen-flavored Mexican cheese doodles and Jenna's pathological self-regard ("Oh, no; someone's going to get more attention than me!"), Liz -- and Jack, for that matter -- became as human as ever in the two scenes where Jack listens to all of Liz's voicemails (the last one, and the way Fey said "Never mind," was kind of heartbreaking) and then visits her apartment.

It's not easy to combine complete cartoon behavior with genuine emotion -- "The Simpsons" could do it in the early days, as could David E. Kelley, but both struggle mightily with those tonal shifts today -- and this episode pulled it off. I bought Liz's realization that she wants to have a baby, and Jack's desire to help the closest thing he has to a friend, even amidst an episode featuring Gay Bombs and pornographic video games and notes written in ketchup.

This is the point of the review of any great "30 Rock" episode where I inevitably run out of ways to praise the show and just start listing other jokes I found funny. As this was the last show of the season -- and one of the best -- I'm actually going to keep it a little shorter than usual, both because there were so many things to list and because I want to hear what other people's favorites were. We've got to have something to discuss between now and the fall besides who shot Kenneth and what a gay Jack might be like.

Among my faves not already mentioned above:

Kathy taking the race car out of her mouth, and then putting it back without saying a word
Tracy directing Jenna's voiceover work: "Don't overthink it. I don't need another Judi Dench situation!"
"Like eating a burrito before sex, a guaranteed disaster!"
Even after discovering the secret ingredient, Liz keeps on eating the Sabor de Soledads.

What did everybody else think?

The Office, "Job Fair": I've got blisters on my fingers!!!!!

2008-05-08T21:58:00.003-04:00

Spoilers for "The Office" coming up just as soon as I find out if Pumpkin's in or out...

I'm gonna be quick, because there's a lot of TV on tonight and "Job Fair" isn't worth spending much time on. It's the first real dud of the post-strike batch: flat, not particularly funny, and depicting Michael at his most abrasive, clueless and unappealing levels.

The ideas were fine. Jim being frightened into applying himself for the first time has potential -- though, of course, you have to ignore the fact that he was once doing well enough within the company that he was named Josh's number two in Stamford, and would have been promoted right along with Josh in the restructuring that was going to close Scranton -- but the storyline was mainly an excuse for cheap physical comedy with Ed Helms (though I'll admit to chuckling at the golf cart crash) and to attempt to mine more comedy from Kevin's gambling problem. (I'd say the law of diminishing returns has hit that particular running gag.) If Jim had come up with a particularly creative way to land the client, I might have forgiven the story's lack of big laughs, but instead Jim resorted to the Michael/Dwight school of simply refusing to take no for an answer in the bluntest way possible. I suppose there's some thematic point to that -- Jim has to become more like the people he hates to survive, just as Michael makes himself feel better about his life by noting that cool guy Jim wants to have that same life -- but it didn't really come across.

Michael at the job fair, meanwhile, was one long cringe-fest. They've played the note before of Michael desperately trying to assert the relevance of both himself and his profession (see "Business School," for instance). It's an intrinsic enough part of the character that they could have gone to that well again, but Michael spent most of the episode being cruel rather than clumsy. His treatment of Justin -- who I'm sure closely resembles the high school age Michael Scott -- was ugly, and his treatment of Pam even uglier. I could see David Brent behaving this way (though he'd have much snappier dialogue while being such an ass), but this didn't fit Michael's particular brand of oblivious boorishness. I get that they're trying to push us in a direction where Jim finally starts to commit to Dunder-Mifflin at the exact moment where Pam is being driven away (hence the scene at the end about graphic design), but regular-strength Michael Scott would be more than enough to do the trick, and it would no doubt be funnier to watch.

What did everybody else think? And is everyone else as psyched as I am to see Amy Ryan in the finale next week?

Survivor: I feel stupid just listening to you

2008-05-08T21:07:00.000-04:00

"Survivor" spoilers coming up just as soon as I go to a spa...

I suppose I should be giddy about yet another ridiculous blindside at Tribal Council, but I'm actually starting to get numb to it. Virtually every major development of this game post-merge has come as the result of someone being colossally stupid: Jason for thinking his stick wasn't just a stick; Ozzy for not even bringing the idol to Tribal, much less playing it; Jason for taking Natalie's word and not playing his idol (and Natalie for being stupid enough to send him to Exile in the first place); Alexis being dumb enough to send Amanda to Exile; and now Erik letting the women guilt and bamboozle him into giving up his necklace to Natalie.

It's fun once or twice, but after a certain point, all these mistakes start to seem less a reflection of the brilliance of Parvati, Cirie and company and more a sign that there are a lot of stupid, stupid people playing the game this season. (If Penner or Yau-Man were still here, ain't neither of them going to be fooled by any of this.)

Erik deserved his fate, but this wasn't like Yul's band of four triumphing over the young idiots; it wasn't any kind of good vs. evil parable. Erik wasn't bad; he was just a dumb, star-struck kid. And as for the people who conned him, I find Natalie and Parvati repugnant, keep waxing and waning on Cirie and have no real opinion of Amanda whatsoever.

It's weird: I've been enjoying the season most of the way through, but we've come to the end and I could care less who wins at this point, and I wouldn't be surprised if any of them do. Yes, even Parvati. "Survivor" juries are crazy; who the hell would have thought Jenna Morasca could beat anyone in a vote in her season (or that she'd get Christy's vote)?

What did everybody else think?

Flight of the Conchords in concert review

2008-05-08T14:20:00.004-04:00

As mentioned last night, I got to go see Flight of the Conchords play the second and final night of the New York stop on their American tour. Enough people asked for a review that I'll offer up some thoughts just as soon as I plan a New Zealand vacation, because, hey, why not?

The signature moment of the show came after Bret and Jemaine had finished their first song ("Inner-City Pressure") and were trying to figure out what to play next, as we were all witness to the following exchange:

Screaming audience member: "WHERE'S MURRAY?"
Bret (not missing a beat): "He's not here."
(Huge laughter from the audience, and, as it died down...)
Jemaine: "He's not real."

With that one-two punch, the following ground-rules were established:

These were not the TV versions of Bret and Jemaine, though they looked the same and sang many of the same songs. These were two sharp, wickedly funny guys who were quick on their feet.
The audience decided that they were now officially a part of the show, and would spend much of the evening -- usually, but not always, confined to those breaks between songs -- shouting out song requests (including, inevitably, the tool who called for "Freebird"), throwing the guys presents or trying to sexually proposition Jemaine.

Now, there were some pluses to the audience participation element. Early on, someone asked them to sing "Sello Tape." The guys nervously admitted they hadn't played it in close to two years (the version from the show was recorded months before filming even began) and were afraid of screwing it up, but with lots of encouraging applause, they launched into it perfectly, even nailing the between-verses banter (a story about working in a box factory with Bryan Adams and Phil Collins) without any obvious hitches. There were also some guys in the front row who brought their own props for the band to incorporate into the show: for "The Humans Are Dead," they gave Jemaine a bunch of toy robots; during "Albi the Racist Dragon," they threw jellybeans on the stage at the appropriate point in the lyrics; and during the encore-closing performance of "Bowie," they threw Bret an eyepatch (an homage to the episode where they sang "Bowie"), which he happily put on for the song's second half. Bret even joked at one point that those fans put more effort into the show than he and Jemaine had.

The downside of the "Rocky Horror"-ization was typified by the woman with the booming voice who decided the evening's sole purpose was for her to have a running conversation (from wherever her seat was, either in the back rows or the balcony) with Jemaine. When he sang a new song about all his ex-girlfriends, she called out that she would never hurt him like that, and she kept injecting herself into the show without somehow being removed by security. Though Bret and Jemaine seemed amused by all the audience call-outs at first, there came a point where they got tired of it, and Jemaine had to start flirtatiously shushing the crowd whenever it got too rowdy.

(One blog account of the show says he even held up the setlist at one point and said that it didn't include "Audience talks with FOTC" on it, but if he did, I didn't catch it; either my hearing's going, or they weren't mic'ed properly, because there were several points in the show, usually on the songs that I didn't know, where I had a hard time understanding the words coming out of their Kiwi mouths.)

But even with the audience getting over-involved, the guys put on a terrific show. Todd Barry, who played third Conchord/Crazy Dogggz frontman Todd in the first season finale, was the opening act and was dryly funny. (His best moment also came from a loud audience member, who warned him not to mock his home state when Barry began a joke about Alabama -- a joke that turned out to be entirely about how northeast liberals automatically assume the worst about places like Alabama. Barry let the guy have it for undercutting the whole point of the gag.) He also came out to play bongos on a performance of "Business Time," sitting in Jemaine's chair while Jemaine perched himself on the edge of the stage.

They performed most of my favorite songs from the show ("Bret, You've Got It Going On" was missing, though I hear they did it the night before), including "Hiphopopotamus" (done back-to-back with "Mother 'Uckers," even though Bret admitted they're basically the same song, musically), and "If You're Into It," in addition to the ones mentioned above. They also did "Jenny" (which I'm guessing they still haven't figured out how to work into the show), plus several new songs, the highlight of which was "I Told You I Was Freaky," which is either going to be the funniest or most disturbing video they ever do on the show. Perhaps inspired by fellow Crazy Dogggz member Demetri, they've worked a keytar into the act, and Bret at one point leapt into the audience for an extended keytar solo.

Though there was a lot of noodling around between songs (which no doubt encouraged people to yell out suggestions), and the banter was a mixture of them being in character (Bret discussing his desire for children) and responding to things happening around them (Bret's chair was dangerously wobbly, and after joking about suing Town Hall, he played one of the final songs while tipping back on only two chair legs while he balanced himself with a foot on the sound board).

Lots and lots of fun, and if tickets are still available at a theater near you, I highly recommend it. You can see photos of the show at brooklynvegan

American Idol: Top 4 elimination

2008-05-08T07:26:00.001-04:00

Since I was out seeing Flight of the Conchords last night (mini-review to follow later in the day), I came home to find out the identity of the "American Idol" boot -- not a surprise at all, given the events of Tuesday -- and therefore chose to skip everything from the results show except the triumphant return of Bo Bice, my favorite "Idol" contestant ever. Amazing how much better "Idol" is if you only watch the stuff you want to see. Feel free to discuss the elimination, or anything else that happened during the hour.

All TV: 'Scrubs' semi-swan song, great '30 Rock' finale

2008-05-08T06:48:00.004-04:00

Today's column reiterates some of my concerns about "Scrubs" continuing on ABC next year, plus previews tonight's brilliant "30 Rock" season finale:

So the ads for tonight's episode of "Scrubs" (8:30 p.m., Ch. 4) - an elaborate homage to "The Princess Bride" - refers to it as "The Finale." Not "season," not "series." "Finale."

NBC keeps using that phrase. I do not think it means what they think it means.

To borrow a bit of wisdom from "Princess Bride" charlatan Miracle Max, "Scrubs" is dead to NBC, but is it mostly-dead or all-dead? Mostly-dead is slightly alive - and, though no one will say it on the record until at least the network upfronts next week, team "Scrubs" is already producing another 18-episode season to air next fall on ABC - where with all-dead, the only thing you can do is go through the pockets and look for loose change.

Now, far be it from me to give "Scrubs" creator Bill Lawrence (who decided to take the hospital comedy to ABC when NBC refused, post-strike, to let him make the handful of episodes he would need to give his baby a proper send-off) a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it, but I worry that he's fallen victim to one of the classic blunders. The greatest, of course, is never get involved in a sitcom with Paula Marshall, but only slightly less well-known is this: never try to stretch things out when your legacy is on the line!

You get the idea. To read the full thing, click here.

My lyrics are bottomless!

2008-05-07T16:25:00.003-04:00

Any thoughts on tonight's "American Idol" elimination show are going to have to wait until early tomorrow, as I'm going out tonight to see Flight of the Conchords -- the mother-flippin' Rhymenoceros and the mother-flippin' Hiphopopotomus -- in concert. To apologize in advance for abandoning my post to go see Bret and Jemaine rock Town Hall, please enjoy the following YouTube links to some of my favorite "Flight of the Conchords" season one moments:

There's many more, but that's what the Related Videos bar is for. Enjoy.

AMC renews Breaking Bad

2008-05-07T13:59:00.002-04:00

Good news just came into via e-mail: AMC has renwed "Breaking Bad" for a second season, this time (hopefully) with a full 13 episodes. No word yet on when it will air.