'Heroes,' 'Ugly Betty,' and other TV shows that burned hot, then burned out - Sepinwall on TV

In today's column, I take the occasion of the "Heroes" season finale - which could well be the series' finale, as well - to look at some other TV shows that went from phenomenon to afterthought surprisingly quickly.

Anybody around here actually still watching "Heroes" at this point? How has the carny season been? Click here to read the full post

Binging and purging

First column link in a few days, in which I make fun of Jeff Zucker's "no scripted shows at 8 o'clock" proclamation, plus some thoughts on the ugliness that is "Breaking Bonaduce" season two.

Spoilers for "Ugly Betty" and "Survivor" coming right up...

"Ugly Betty" came reeeeeeallly close to going 4-for-4 with Betty offering to quit with the scene where Betty tried to fall on her sword in front of Wilhemina, but I didn't much care this time because the episode overall was a lot of fun. Betty's worlds colliding -- not sure which was funnier: her nephew in heaven at Mode or Amanda and Marc in Queens -- some new colors for all of the "villains," Betty yielding to her worst impulses in cursing out (Non)Fat Carol, even the first time I've cared at all about the Fey Summers subplot. The only downside: after that sweet final scene with Walter and Betty, I had "Beauty and the Beast" stuck in my head for the rest of the night.

The lesson seems to have sunk in with the "Survivor" producers: wrestling or fighting-related immunity challenges rule. Always. Beyond that, continued meh. The double-elimination was necessary with this many contestants -- they arguably need to do one or two more before the merge -- but both boots were exactly who you would have figured would go, "Plan Voodoo" fake-out or no "Plan Voodoo" fake-out. The only player I especially care about is Jonathan, in part because he seems the rare player to really understand both the game and the fact that it's not personal, in part because I once spent a nice evening with him and his wife back in the NBC days of "The Naked Truth."

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Old business: Doctor Who, Ugly Betty and Survivor

Spoilers for, in order, "Doctor Who," "Ugly Betty" and "Survivor" after the jump. (And, out of curiosity, anybody here still watching "Dexter"? Now that Showtime's caught up with the episodes I've seen, I may add it to the rotation next week.)

As I said a couple of weeks ago, I'm a "Doctor Who" newbie, having come to the show late in the Eccleston season. I Netflix'ed the Tom Baker "City of Death" DVD, but haven't had much time to watch it -- and, besides, it doesn't feature either Sarah Jane Smith or K-9. So, in theory, I shouldn't be the target audience for such a continuity-heavy episode as "School Reunion" -- yet I was more moved by it than anything on the show since The Doctor cured all the gas-mask people in "The Doctor Dances." All that I really needed to know was that Sarah Jane was the Rose of the early '70s, and Elisabeth Sladen's performance did the rest -- with some support from David Tennant, who actually made me sad that the tin dog was about to die. A really touching meditation on the difficulty of living a normal life on Earth after getting a chance to see the entire universe. And, for added value, Anthony Head was having himself a fine old time vamping it up as the head baddie. The only thing I didn't like at all was Rose's reaction to Mickey becoming a companion. Don't keep stringing the guy along if you're clearly that over him, okay?

"Ugly Betty" is now three-for-three with episodes where Betty breaks down crying and either quits or offers to before Daniel talks her out of it. There's a TV-producing philosophy that says you have to essentially re-do your pilot a bunch of times in a row, both for the benefit of viewers who missed the first episode and to help reinforce the characters for everyone else. But I feel like we've seen enough of that device for a while. Also, while Betty's hoochie makeover was an obvious attempt to derail any questions of why she wouldn't start dressing better with the new job, I can't totally suspend my disbelief yet. After all, why wouldn't Daniel -- who needs her brain but also realizes that her image is a potential distraction -- just hire her a personal shopper for an afternoon or something? But if I can buy Clark Kent's glasses as the ultimate disguise, I can go with this for now.

I've delayed so long saying anything about "Survivor" because I'm not sure what I have to say. As I wrote last week, once they got rid of the racial component, a lot of the air went out of this season for me. I think the casting's been pretty good (loved Jonathan The Actor heckling Probst's punny play-by-play, followed by Jeff's lemon-sucking face), and I even like most of the challenges (the climax to this week's IC was one of the more intense ones we've had), but I'm feeling "Survivor"ed out at the moment. Maybe after they cut loose a lot of deadweight -- starting with this week's double-elimination -- I'll feel more into it, but for now, not so much. Click here to read the full post

Behind my back

So let's see... while I was at the ballgame, the CW flip-flopped its Sunday and Monday line-ups in an attempt to save Chris and the other sitcoms, NBC ordered the "Kidnapped" producers to wrap up the storyline in 13 episodes to avoid the "Reunion" problem (though I believe they'll air all 13 -- even on Saturdays -- when I see it), "Heroes" became the first new show to get a back nine order, ABC is going to slot "Big Day" in where "Knights of Prosperity" was supposed to go, Fox is moving "Justice" to Mondays and "Vanished" to Fridays post-baseball (which means neither show qualifies for the dead pool yet, and I fear that even my pick, "Happy Hour," ain't dead yet), and...

Geez, a fella goes to see his ballclub flail around at a bunch of 100 mph pitches, and the next thing he knows, primetime has been turned upside down. Apparently, I can never leave my desk again.

I'll catch up on Wednesday TV later, but spoilers on (in order), "Survivor," "The Office," "Ugly Betty" and "Grey's Anatomy" just as soon as I recharge my power ring. In brightest day, in blackest night...

Two weeks after Jeff Probst gave his own ruling on Brown v. Board of Education and bussed the tribes together, "Survivor: Eugenics Wars" has become just another season of "Survivor." And that's fine, I guess. I like some of the players (Yul, Nate, Jenny), hate some others (Parvati, Adam, Ozzy) and am entertained by but ambivalent about a few more (Cao Boi, Roller Girl). Arguably a more interesting start than Exile Island or Guatemala. But 13 seasons in, there are only so many different iterations of island strategery, of the young vs. old, productive vs. lazy, man vs. woman, freak vs. geek tribal schisms that you have to be a major "Survivor" junkie to still get excited about it all. Well-made season so far, but the racial stuff was by far the most compelling element, and that's been dropped, for now. Ah, well; at least that pompous granite block J.P. got kicked to the curb, and even seemed gracious in defeat.

Things are very amiss at "The Office," but intentionally so. Jim really was the glue holding the Scranton branch together in various ways; if he was still there, Dwight would be too busy wigging out over Jim's latest prank to even consider listening to Lady Angela MacScotttish's advice about a palace coup, Pam would feel too self-conscious to try dressing cuter in the office (that, or Jim would have steered Creed right the hell away from the reception desk), etc., etc. Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice -- er, I mean Stamford -- we discover that Michael's not the only branch manager who wastes valuable company time on his own frivolous obsessions. Hell, compared to the number of video game sessions that Jim seems to deal with in a single day, 30 minutes a week for a team-bonding movie (which nobody but Pam really seemed to mind) seems practically brilliant. Of course, that doesn't count the many, many other ways that Michael wastes time, but for all we know Josh is just as bad, just not as clumsy about it. Now that Daniels and company have laid their cards on the table about Jim and Rashida (which we all suspected was coming), I'm curious to see how the 'shippers react. Will they be burning the poor newbie in effigy, cussing out Jim, writing off the show altogether, or actually watching with an open mind to see what happens next?

Favorite moment of the episode: Jan telling Michael about her conversation with Dwight, followed by Michael immediately asking what she was doing at the dentist. Oh, Michael: so naive, so innocent, so stupid, so funny.

Seems a bit ironic that, in an "Ugly Betty" about a perfectly gorgeous actress who feels pressured to lose weight to look like all the other Hollywood lollipops, America Ferrera has clearly dropped a few dress sizes since the pilot. A good follow-up to the pilot, I thought, particularly the stuff in Queens -- a well-choreographed catfight (and by "well-choreographed," I mean "clumsy as hell, preferably with hair getting caught up in jewelry") is never not funny -- though my interest flags whenever we get into the soapiest elements with the dead/not dead former editor. That's my problem, though. Seems like every year I pick one soap opera that I like in spite of the soapy aspects. I used to like everything about "The O.C." except for Ryan and Marisa, I watch "Grey's Anatomy" in spite of Meredith and McDreamy... hey, speaking of which...

Another busy, fun "Grey's Anatomy." Allan Heinberg, the man responsible for Seth Cohen's comic book obsession on "The O.C.," has been on the writing staff all of five seconds and he already had George dropping Green Lantern references in an episode that he didn't even write. Does that qualify as a super power? I liked the indestructible girl storyline -- Abigail Breslin is the rare talented kid actor who still seems like a kid -- even though I kept waiting for her to stick her hand in an In-Sink-Erator, just to see what legal hijinks would ensue in the real world. Hell, I didn't even mind the love triangle storyline for once, since McDreamy was supposed to be acting like an ass this time. The only time I really got annoyed at all was when Bailey was meeting with the Chief about Izzy. I'm sorry, Shonda: you wrote yourself into this corner, then sealed yourself in with some brick and mortar, and I'm not buying any attempt to pretend otherwise.

What did everybody else think? Click here to read the full post

Beautiful Betty

In this morning's column, I review "Ugly Betty," one of my two or three favorite new shows of the season:

Some TV shows need months, even years, to find their voice.

"Ugly Betty" needs five seconds.

The opening shot of this enormously appealing new series is a tight close-up of star America Ferrera, her hair badly styled, her eyes framed by thick red glasses, a hint of a tacky plaid suit jacket. Her lip quivers nervously, and we cut to the words "UGLY BETTY" in big, Day-Glo block letters, then back to Betty as she smiles broadly and we see that some malicious orthodontist has welded the grillwork of an Escalade to her teeth.

In that quick juxtaposition of how awful Betty looks and how happy she feels, the show establishes both its key theme of substance over style and its arch, self-aware sense of humor. "Ugly Betty" may have some Important Stuff to say about the emptiness of beauty, but not at the expense of a good laugh.

To read the rest, click here.

UPDATE: So, what say the rest of ya's?

Click here to read the full post

Pilot Watch: ABC romantic comedies

Trying to zip through the ABC pilots so I can get back to the rest of whatever it is I do. Some first impressions -- as always, these aren't reviews, as too many things can and will change between now and September -- of "Betty the Ugly" and "Big Day" after the jump...

"Betty the Ugly"
Who's In It: America Ferrera, Eric Mabius, Vanessa "Miss America, not the other one" Williams, Ashley Jensen, Alan Dale, Tony Plana, etc.
What It's About: An adaptation of the popular telenovela about a plain-looking woman swimming with the skinny, Botox'ed sharks at a high-end fashion magazine.
Pluses: Continuing to show she's one of the bravest, least vain actresses in Hollywood, Ferrera is a lot of fun as the braces-wearing, fashion senseless Betty, who makes up in brains and moxie what she lacks in style. While the tone isn't quite as campy as your average telenovela (as a contrast, producer Salma Hayek pops up from time to time as an actress on a telenovela-within-the-telenovela that's much more over the top), it still has a fizzy tone that works with the material, and Vanessa Williams does a great Joan Collins/Heather Locklear diva turn. Overall, one of the more entertaining pilots I've seen this season.
Minuses: Really, just the timeslot. I haven't seen "Brothers & Sisters" (for some reason, it was the only pilot ABC didn't send out), but I can't imagine it being a better pairing with "Desperate Housewives" than this. Putting this show Fridays at 8 seems like a waste of a perfectly good comic soap opera.

"Big Day"
Who's In It: Marla Sokoloff, Josh Cooke, Wendie Malick, Kurt Fuller, Miriam Shor, Stephen Rannazzisi
What It's About: Real-time comedy spanning 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the day of a young couple's wedding.
Pluses: Very simply, it's funny. A lot of ridiculous stuff goes down on anyone's wedding day, and they've found enough of it -- my favorite is the groom wanting to walk down the aisle to the "What's Happening!!" theme song -- to fill out a pilot. Wendie Malick is never not good, and Stephnie Weir from "Mad TV" is great as the pathologically cowed wedding planner.
Minuses: There's definitely enough for a pilot, but an entire season? The last time Wendie Malick starred in a real-time romantic comedy pilot for ABC, it was "Jake in Progress" -- and shortly after the pilot was shot, everyone realized the degree of difficulty was way too high, and that they'd be better off doing self-contained episodes. And we all know how well that turned out for everyone. Will ABC and the producers change their minds a few episodes into the season, marry the couple off and turn it into "Mad About You: The Next Generation"? Click here to read the full post