Veronica Mars: When both Marses failed

Spoilers for "Veronica Mars" just as soon as I pry open this coyote trap...

I'm going to be briefer than usual on this one, since I watched the episode a few weeks ago and wasn't in a position to take notes at the time.

Even though a lot of the Fitzpatrick stuff still makes me feel like I'm trying to figure out who killed the limo driver in "The Big Sleep," Enrico Colantoni really sold Keith's despair at the resolution. (Plus, that was a damned clever use of Vinnie Van Lowe's tracking device, wasn't it?) Veronica frequently screws up, but Keith's biggest blunders prior to this (getting kicked off the force for his handling of the Kane case) took place before the series even began, so when father and daughter both realized how badly they had botched things, it had an extra sting. (Scenes where Veronica and Keith both cry: gold.) My only question: wouldn't an auction house require some kind of proof of ownership to sell paintings as valuable as the ones Keith boosted from the crime scene?

The rape story progresses onward with the reintroduction of some of the frat guys from "The Rapes of Graff," not to mention Veronica's incredibly brief tenure at the school paper. (Would Andrea Zuckerman or Brandon Walsh have treated her and that poor chaperone lady so cruelly? I think not.) Since this story was only a factor in the last few minutes of the premiere, this episode was mainly about putting a bunch of pieces on the board (including the very welcome return of jerkhole Sheriff Lamb); I'm expecting more significant progress (red herrings, unlikely clues, etc.) in the coming weeks.

While I never participated in the prisoner/jailer experiment when I was in college, I'd read about it, and most of the accounts had people acting significantly worse than "Boy Meets World" Boy treated poor Samm Levine. (And why is it that all of the Freaks are gainfully employed, while our three Geeks have to scrape by on small guest appearances like this? Oh, wait, I know: because the Freaks were better-looking.) On the one hand, the fact that things never got that out of hand (and that neither Wallace nor Logan had their behavior altered by the experience) made it feel like a wasted opportunity. On the other hand, in an episode where Veronica and Keith -- and Mac, for that matter -- are dealing with massive doses of guilt, maybe the show needed one story that wasn't so dark.

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

Friday Night Lights: Eatin' good in the neighborhood

Spoilers for "Friday Night Lights" episode two, just as soon as I decide between the Nachos Nuevos and the Boneless Buffalo Wings for my appetizer...

Well, damn. When a show has a pilot as terrific as "FNL," the show usually takes a small step back in the next few weeks as the creators try to figure out how to sustain that quality without just repeating themselves. But I found this episode even more gripping and well-done than the pilot. I've already resigned myself to the show's failure, based on the miniscule premiere ratings, but I'm going to enjoy this while I can. If nothing else, it'll make a fine 13-hour DVD that someone can get me for Father's Day.

Street's crippling injury ratcheted up everything: the pressure on Coach Taylor, the reliance on faith, Lyla's unflinching optimism that her life with Jason is going to be storybook all the way, Saracen's feeling of being an outsider, Riggins' self-destructive tendencies, the boosters' wives trying to turn Mrs. Taylor into a pod, etc.

Several moments stood out to me. One was the sports talk radio host dubbing Street's injury "just a tragic blow to the season" and then quickly seguing into a rip job on Saracen, as if he'd never heard that cliche about tragedy in sports putting your priorities in order. Another was Saracen's discomfort at getting a spirit girl of his very own ("You tell me what you like and I'll provide it") and especially the scene where Taylor takes Saracen out onto the field to discuss his father and try to psych him up. (What makes it especially great is that you can see on Kyle Chandler's face that Taylor knows this is like putting a ballgown on a pig, but he has no choice but to work that zipper.)

I also liked the glimpse of Smash's Planned Parenthood mom, and Landry (whose parents must be very, very disappointed in their son, given the name they hung on him) trying to find a way to exploit his best friend's newfound celebrity. Hell, I didn't even mind the blatant product integration stuff with Applebee's ("This is a fantastic meal. Fantastic meal."), since I completely believe that Applebee's would be a culinary destination in a town like this.

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

On the table

Spoilers for, in order, "Heroes," "The Class" and "How I Met Your Mother" -- all of which built up to surprise endings -- coming up just as soon as I pull this sharp stick out of my head...

Ho. Ly. Schnickes. I was enjoying "Heroes" for most of the first three episodes, but it wasn't until we got to that final shot of Claire on the autopsy table that I knew I was in for the long haul. Any show willing to vivisect a cheerleader on network TV, I'm in favor of. Tim Kring may not be much of a comic fan, but he and his writers keep coming up with these great cliffhangers. I was ambivalent about the pilot until Adrian Pasdar flew, was planning to only watch the first half of my episode 2 & 3 DVD until Hiro realized when he was, and now this.

Outside of the biggest challenge a healing factor has faced since Wolverine had to regenerate himself from a single drop of blood, the highlight for show three was, of course, Hiro (and the return of his buddy Ando). I'm curious exactly how long this comic book is supposed to be; it looks like the standard format, which would mean it's going to run out of pages long before Hiro finishes whatever this quest is. And wouldn't Isaac be freaked to realize he was drawing his own apartment (and, possibly, his own corpse) in a comic book? He always freaked out about his paintings after realizing they had come true, but none of them involve him.

The other scene I loved was Peter at the playground. When I saw him standing on what seemed to be the edge of another building roof for the third episode in a row, I wrote in my notes, "Oh, come on!" Then they pulled back to do the jungle gym reveal, not to mention the little kid in the red cape, and I laughed. That the show already recognized how ponderous some of those Peter scenes had become is a good sign.

Well, now I know why CBS was being so vague in its press releases about what character Sara Gilbert was going to play on "The Class." Not wild about the show going to the adultery well twice in four episodes (or, if she's not Richie's wife, just plain cheating). Even less wild about the continuation of the joke about Holly and her husband not understanding Kyle's boyfriend's perfectly clear English, which is actually about 12 times lamer than the joke about Holly's husband being a not-so-secret flaming queen (or else second cousin to Lyle, the Effeminate Heterosexual). The only really funny stuff this week was Duncan becoming bestest buddies with Yonk. After some marginal improvement in each of the last two weeks, this was a big step backwards.

"How I Met Your Mother" also recycled a recent device, with the series of flashbacks that were repeated twice with the same dialogue but different meaning, but it was a funnier joke to begin with and the entire episode didn't depend on it. (I was starting to suspect that Barney was standing in for Ted around the time Robin talked to the bouncer.) My only major complaint: how do you have Marshall go back to the club and not show him dancing? Even for two seconds? Total missed opportunity.

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

Studio 60: The man who shouldn't be there

"Studio 60" spoilers just as soon as I figure out the rules of cricket...

You know, I think I might tolerate this show a whole lot better if I had never heard of Aaron Sorkin, never read anything about Aaron Sorkin, never met the man. It's not because it gave me artificially high expectations for the show, or that I'm bothered he's recycling bits from his last two shows (he stole from "Sports Night" on "West Wing" and it didn't bug me there). It's that I feel I know far too much about the man's life and work habits, so I can't not see how he's working himself into the show.

In the original version of the pilot script that was circulating around the 'Net earlier this year, Danny's date to the awards dinner was "Martha, a sexy red-headed journalist" -- in other words, former Sorkin girlfriend Maureen Dowd. Given how much of his personal life Aaron had already thrown into the episode (being fired from "The West Wing," his relationship with Kristen Chenoweth), I was relieved to see that he cut the character out of the final version. So then he has to go and bring the character back in for an arc just so he can work out some leftover issues with yet another ex -- and, for an added weird twist, he hires the wife of his best friend (and the quasi-inspiration for Danny) to play her. Too distracting, too uncomfortable, too... ugh.

Then there's the plagiarism subplot, which could have been much more concise if Aaron himself had just walked on screen and said, "You see? This is why I don't let my writers do anything? Now do you get it? Huh? Huh? And how about that Juliette Lewis sketch? Didn't you love how I had to defend its incredibly dated nature within the episode? Huh? Aren't I awesome? McKinney never could have written something that self-indulgent! And did you know I could hang out with the Pussycat Dolls whenever I want to?"

I know that I'm an atypical viewer in this respect, but at the same time I can't imagine a typical viewer giving a tinker's damn about the need to reshoot the joke for the West Coast feed. As many have said, it's one thing to generate this level of intensity when a hurricane is threatening the 7th fleet or the president has plotted to assassinate a foreign leader, but to use the same self-important tone for this?

For the first three episodes, my take on the show was that I wanted it to be better, given the people involved. Now, I think I'm reclassifying it as a trainwreck, the show I like to watch just so I can look at the screen and yell about all the things that are going wrong with it. If only I knew nothing about Sorkin. Anybody know if Lacuna would take an out-of-state third-party check?

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

Wire week 6 talk for the On Demand'ers

Talk about episode 6, "Unto Others," here until the review goes up on Sunday night. Click here to read the full post

The Wire, "Alliances": Dead is dead

Spoilers for "The Wire" episode five, "Alliances," just as soon as I see Rawls' car turn round the corner...

Someone's been wearing out the grooves in their "Stand By Me" DVD, no? From the ghost stories around the fire in the teaser to the field trip to see the body at the end, the boys' journey in this episode played out as a cracked mirror image of the journey traveled by Gordie Lachance and company. The difference is that, in "Stand by Me," the trip represents the beginning of the end of their innocence, where Namond, Randy, Michael and Dukie barely have any innocence left. As they're standing around the fire, gunshot go off a few blocks away, and Michael can identify the caliber just from the sound. And for Randy, the notion of "special dead" was the last thread he could hold onto without falling deep into a pit of guilt over his role in Lex's murder.

Chris and Snoop, meanwhile, make an overt sales pitch to Michael, and he's obviously considering it, pocketing the same kind of money he refused weeks earlier, because now it seems less like a hand-out than a salary advance. And, in an attempt to have every adult male character on the show offer to mentor him, we see Prez trying to encourage Michael in his classwork, and in dealing with Bug, but Michael doesn't seem interested. When I was at this stage of watching the season, I thought to myself, "Some grown-up really let Michael down when he was little, to have his shields up this hard."

And as Michael continues his trajectory towards the corner life, Namond continues to pretend like he was born and raised on a corner. He talks trash in Prez's class, brags to his dad about a willingness to fight it out with Marlo's people (as if there wouldn't be a clean square inch of his shorts at the first sight of Snoop's guns), even cusses out Dr. DeLuca, yet the moment when he seems most sincere all episode is his apology to Prez. The rest is a front, one he puts on because it's expected of him.

Prez is taking baby steps towards being an effective teacher. Letting Namond out of the initial detention wasn't a bad move -- it showed the kids his rules would be fair -- but once he let all the detention kids bolt early, I just shook my head and muttered something about giving inches and stealing miles. But he's also taking steps to help out Dukie, both with the clothes and the extra lunch, and it's the kids are warming to him, judging by how many were casually eating lunch in his classroom. Nice moment when Randy called Donut over to Slim Jim Prez's locked car for him; this is still very alien territory for our resident puzzle expert, and cracking the secrets of adolescents, no matter their color or social class, is going to be a hell of a lot harder than figuring out a beeper code or deciphering the lyrics to "Brown Sugar."

As we careen towards the election, Royce is losing a lot more than his facial hair -- though it's a sign of how complacent and detached he's become that he thinks this is going to get his momentum back. He's shaving, and Tommy's out pressing the flesh. He's bullying his inner circle, and Tommy is snatching up the support of Odell Watkins. When you can inspire Odell, who seems like the sort of guy who has a swear jar in his kitchen, to repeatedly throw F-bombs at you, well, sir, you've earned it.

Gold star to Bill Rawls, by the way, who has just made him a favored son of whichever man wins the primary. And here I thought all he was good for was vendetta. That position seems to have been filled by his henchman, Lt. Marimow, who, like Lt. Daniels before him, is realizing that buy-busts and old intelligence won't get him anywhere close to his target. Two key differences: 1)Daniels changed his tune on the Barksdale investigation because Jimmy and Lester convinced him it was the right thing to do, where Marimow just wants to get back at Marlo for such a public humiliation; and 2)Daniels had Lester and Jimmy as his top investigative minds, while Marimow is relying on Herc. No way Det. Lester Smooth sets up a surveillance system that's both legally questionable and easily detectable like this.

Marlo sniffed out the camera, but only a blind, deaf and dumb man in his position wouldn't have had somebody guarding or watching his favorite hangout for just such an event. Herc seems to have inadvertently done a favor for Prop Joe, since the card game robbery alone didn't seem like enough to push Marlo into the co-op. Still, this is a "be careful what you wish for" situation, since Marlo always considers himself top dog in any relationship. Given how much more slickly he's dealt with the Omar situation than Avon and Stringer ever did, maybe he deserves to be top dog. At first, I assumed Chris was going to kill Old-Face Andre, but then I realized that he needed a witness who would lie about Omar's presence. This is now two citizens clipped in two weeks by Chris. The guy is very, very cold.

Some other random thoughts:

• In the no good deed goes unpunished department, we have Bubbs taking a beating while trying one last time to get Sherrod back to school. And for Bubbs, losing his dignity was obviously much worse than losing the money in his shoe.
  
• Even though she cussed out Prez over the small pencil, I felt sorry for Zenobia. You could see in the expressions on her face throughout that scene that she really would like to do well in school, but her temper and whatever crappy hand she's been dealt at home stirs her to act out and sabotage herself. When Namond talked about the evil taking him over, I felt like that applied better to Zenobia than him.
• Anybody else feel incredibly frustrated watching Lester looking in all the wrong places for the bodies? Proof of how much this show engages me: I actually started shouting out "Check the vacants!" during a few of those scenes.
  
• When Landsman made the reference to Maj. Forester getting unsuccessful chemo, it was a reference to the fact that actor Richard DeSantis was very ill in real life, and died either during production of this season or not long after it ended.
• Liked watching The Bunk grooving to some R&B (the Temptations?) while Lester talked to the sewer workers.
• Randy's not exactly Mr. Grace Under Pressure, blurting out about his hall pass without Bunny even asking.
  

Lines of the week:

• Norman: "I'm a devious motherfucker once I get going."
• Bunny on Namond as a corner kid example: "Yeah, they do step up when you need them."
• Donut breaking into Prez's car: "No problem, chief."
  
• Royce chewing out Burrell: "What's next? Your officers gonna shoot a couple of tourists? Maybe fly a helicopter in the harbor place?"
• Principal Withers: "Thank you. It'll be the only time anyone in the system thinks to say it."
  
• Mrs. Donnelly: "Principal Withers just went out on a limb for you, and in this system they know how to handle a chainsaw."
• Advice from Lester's cadet instructor: "We're looking for one body in particular. If you go grabbing everyone you see, we'll be here every day."
• Norman watching Rawls drive away: "Wait until he turns the corner..."
  

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

Battlestar Galactica: Eyes for an eye

Twice the "Battlestar Galactica" spoilers comin' right up...

Not sure which is more shocking: that the Cylons gouged out one of Tigh's eyeballs, or that Ron Moore has suddenly flipped the 9/11 allegory so that the Cylons are now America and we're the Iraqis.

In our interview, Moore said the situation was more complicated than that, that the occupation is borrowing just as much from Vichy France and the West Bank and a variety of other occupied territories in modern history. But he also admitted that he wanted to provoke a reaction, to make viewers question which side they were on, and there's not a more potent, jarring way to do that then to have the good guys strapping explosives to their chests and blowing up real good.

It works that it's Tigh ordering the suicide bombings and the resistance's other extreme measures. Of all the military characters, he's always been the most extreme, to the point where I suspect he has a "Kill 'em all and let the Gods sort it out" t-shirt tucked away in his duffel bag. And his time in the Cylon equivalent of Abu Ghraib has made him even more militant, to the point where I wonder if Brother Cavil already took more than an eye in there. (See the "evil men in the gardens of Paradise" speech.)

And the genius of it all is that, just when you're feeling sick and disgusted that our heroes are pulling this stuff, Baltar -- Baltar -- is the one to argue against it, while Tigh insists that a suicide mission is the same whether it's being conducted with a viper or an explosives belt. (Collateral damage is all but expected from aerial bombing missions, even if there are attempts to contain it.) Again, which side are you on? Especially on this?

I definitely had the most visceral reaction to the suicide bombing material, but thought the entire hour was vintage "Galactica." The venue and tactics may change, but the tone and quality don't.

In particular, I got chills on several occasions:

• "Have hope. We're coming for you." Sometimes it's the simplest words that have the most power -- especially if we've seen the despair in which the recipients are living.
  
• Kara standing over her "daughter" (and, given what Moore has said in the podcasts about mutual love being a requirement to produce human/Cylon off-spring, I call shenanigans on Leoben) after Kasey (Casey? KC?) fell on the steps of Leoben's swinging jailhouse duplex.
  
• Tyrol coming home to find the baby alone and wailing. (Since the Cylons went to all the trouble of building a jail and creating a police force, do they also have social workers to prevent this sort of thing?)
• Callie, never a classy one, asking Boomer how many times she needs to shoot her to make her go away forever.
• Pretty much any scene with Brother Cavil, but especially that second sex scene with Ellen where he threatens to do much worse to Tigh. Hard to believe Dean Stockwell was only in a couple of episodes before this; he scares the crap out of me.
  

I think Moore and company really thought out the ramifications of the settlement and the time jump, and they're playing it for all it's worth. I'm so happy to have this frakkin' show back.

Some other random thoughts:

• Though Duck (the suicide bomber) and Jammer (the reluctant human police recruit) both figured prominently in the webisodes, the horse came before the cart here. The TV episodes were written, and then Sci-Fi approached Moore and company about doing the web stuff, and they realized they could use the web stories to provide some shading to two characters who were glorified extras most of the time.
• So what exactly did Kara stab Leoben with? Looked like a tuning fork to me, but she seemed to be crafting something under the table while waiting for his return.
• When Caprica-Six and Baltar reunited in the season two finale, I was really excited about the prospect of their respective hallucinatory best buddies playing a scene together, ala Al and Zoey (the Evil Leaper's sidekick) on "Quantum Leap." Moore said he toyed with the idea and even wrote a draft or two of a scene featuring Chip-Six and Chip-Baltar, but cut it pretty early in the writing stage. Too much else to deal with. Still, I find it interesting that Baltar still needs the fantasy of Chip-Six when he has the real thing right in front of him. (I also asked Moore whether Chip-Six and Chip-Baltar were really just hallucinations, since they frequently know things that a figment couldn't; all he said was that "they play into the larger mythology of the show."
  
• Gods, but the makeup people have done a good job making Jamie Bamber look like he totally let himself go. Moore couldn't remember if the naked torso shot was makeup or a body double, but the facial makeup looks terrific, more convincing than most fake fat faces (say it five times fast) that I've seen.
• I understand Laura's desire to keep a record of what went on during the occupation, but would she really risk keping a written diary that included significant details about the resistance, moles in the Baltar administration, etc.?
  
• Okay, so during the time-jump, we had the weddings of Anders and Starbuck, Tyrol and Callie, Lee and Dualla and Helo and Sharon. Frankly, I'm shocked that they didn't find some way to marry off Laura and Tom Zarek. I know there's a plan to do at least one episode that fills in some gaps on what happened in the last year (plus four months), but it feels like they'd have to spend virtually all of that on showing how Sharon went from dog-collar girl to Adama's BFF.
  
• Given Moore's desire to play on lots of historical locales beyond Iraq, I thought it was a nice touch that the police uniforms had a touch of Nazi to their style, which made them a nice parallel not only for the Iraqis who we're trying to train to be cops, but the Jews who were recruited to police their own people in the ghettos.
• Speaking of the Nazis, letting the prisoners out of a truck to stretch their legs was the pretext used to slaughter all the British soldiers at the end of "The Great Escape." Time to start humming that theme song.
  
• Caprica Six killing D'Anna was the first bit of Cylon-on-Cylon violence ever? Does Sharon killing one of the Six'es to get in good with Helo not count?
  

So what say you all? Click here to read the full post

'Smith' is kaput

CBS has pulled "Smith," effective immediately, and will vamp with procedural crime show repeats at least until election night. After that, I wouldn't be surprised to see the "House"-esque "3 lbs." (Stanley Tucci as an arrogant neurosurgeon) replace it. Guess I don't need to bother watching episode three, huh?

Oh, and "Kidnapped" is moving to Saturdays at 9 beginning Oct. 21 for the remaining 10 episodes. "Dateline" and other filler are moving into the Wednesday at 10 timeslot immediately. Click here to read the full post

What the frak?

Technical difficulties prevented the posting of today's column on "Battlestar Galactica" until just now. I'll also be back tonight at 11 with thoughts on the two-hour premiere, which is just one big slice of awesome. Anyway, on to my tete-a-tete with Mr. Moore:

The bad guys are an occupying force among a hostile population, accused of torture and worse even as they say they're there to build an infrastructure. The good guys are using improvised explosive devices, hiding guns inside of places of worship -- even, on occasion, strapping explosives to their chests for a suicide bombing run.

In the parlance of "Battlestar Galactica," what the frak is going on here?

Since its revival in 2003, "Galactica" has been one of the most overtly political shows on television, albeit one with spaceships and robots. The human heroes were set up as America; the robotic Cylons, who were created and trained by the humans only to rebel and become religious fanatic mass murderers, were stand-ins for Al Qaeda. 9/11 imagery abounded, characters debated the merits of security versus civil liberties and leaders on all sides invoked their respective deities as justification for their actions.

At the end of season two, producer Ronald D. Moore and his writers ripped up the series' status quo. The human fleet settled on an obscure planet they dubbed New Caprica, lived there for a year in relative peace, then faced an invasion by the Cylons.

The new season picks up four months into the occupation, and despite the Cylons' claims of benevolence, the largest structure visible anywhere is the new jail. Humans are routinely rounded up without cause, others are branded as traitors for joining a Cylon-organized police force, and the resistance, led by former prisoner and torture victim Colonel Tigh (Michael Hogan), is trying out suicide bombings.

If the humans were originally us and the Cylons were Al Qaeda, how did the Cylons become America while we became the Iraqis?

"That's only one of the parallels that we played," insists Moore. "Certainly, that parallel is there, but there's also elements of Vichy France and the West Bank. Clearly, the war in Iraq plays into what we're doing. We didn't really design it as a polemic about Iraq, but it is informed by Iraq."

To read the full story, click here. There are also a couple of sidebars on what newbies need to know and why they should even want to watch a show called "Battlestar Galactica." 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

Getaway day

Lucked into a rain-out ticket to this afternoon's Yankees game from someone who couldn't go, which means I'll be spending a good chunk of the day journeying to and from the beautiful Bronx.

There are threads below for "Lost" and "The Nine" comments, and while I haven't seen "Jericho" or "Kidnapped" (which, rumor has it, will be condensed down to a 13-episode story but kept on the air until then to avoid the bitterness factor) yet, feel free to post about them (or any other notable TV from the last few days) here, and I'll rejoin the discussion later today.

This morning's column is reader mail, leading off with the familiar discussion of how funny Earl on "My Name Is Earl" should be. Click here to read the full post

Lost: The Others side

Spoilers for the "Lost" premiere just as soon as I finish nibbling on my fish biscuit...

Nicely done, "Lost." First you open with a neat parallel to last year's beginning scene (the '60s wall of sound pop tune, interrupted by an explosion -- albeit in the oven, not of the hatch -- a previously-unknown person going through their daily routine, etc.), then you give us a fairly tense hour that does give away a few answers (The Others did work for the Dharma Initiative, they have some kind of suburban enclave in the middle of the island in addition to access to a lot of the Dharma stations) and you even manage to give me a Jack flashback that didn't bore the pants off me. (Yet another thing for Jack to feel guilty about: his obsession with his ex-wife ruined what was probably his father's last, best chance to stay sober.) I liked Elizabeth Mitchell, liked Sawyer's battle with the hamster feeder, liked Henry/Ben's explanation for Kate's seaside lunch (though yet again, Evangeline Lilly reminds me that she's the show's weak link, acting-wise) and didn't even mind that we didn't get to see Hurley, Locke, Jin, Sun, Mr. Eko and the rest of the gang.

As someone who long ago reconciled himself to the notion that "Lost" is going to be all journey, no destination, I had a fun ride tonight. What say the rest of you? Click here to read the full post

Shufflin' along

Watching Yanks-Tigers consumed a lot of me evening, so I'll get to "Smith" later this week. (Tonight's tough, with another game plus new "Jericho," "Lost" and "Kidnapped," and tomorrow has the "Survivor" vs. "Earl"/"Office" traffic jam. If I hadn't already seen this week's episodes of "The Nine" and "Ugly Betty," I'd have no time for sleep.) I had already watched the latest episode of "The Unit" on a screener and was more struck by how well Robin Weigert cleans up when she's not playing Calamity Jane than I was by the plot itself. (The military mission in particular felt like one of their more generic ones.)

In the meantime, some interesting schedule moves courtesy of my buddy Joe at Variety: CBS is flipping the timeslots of "How I Met Your Mother" and "The Class," effective immediately, while ABC is indefinitely delaying the premiere of "The Knights of Prosperity" because they don't feel they can properly promote it with so many other new shows on the schedule.

Plus, I think they realize that a 90-minute "Dancing with the Stars" will do a bigger number than 60 minutes of dancing and "Knights." Plus, it gives them more time to come up with a better title. Plus, there's the huuuuuuuge issue of Mick Jagger possibly bailing on the series and the need to find a new celebrity victim.

The original flip-flop of "HIMYM" and "Class" never made sense to me, and "HIMYM" was significantly building on its lead-in each week, so it's about time. Click here to read the full post

Gilmore Girls: A step in the right direction

Spoilers for "Gilmore Girls" just as soon as I get a permit to open an outdoor diner...

Well, that was a little more like it. The pace is still uncomfortably slow, a lot of the humor feels forced, and we're two episodes in with no Richard and Emily (those last two issues are no doubt related), but there were a few promising developments.

First, the act with Rory's fake Asian vacation actually felt like the show, and not just a good imitation of the show. The concept, the banter, even the pacing all felt right. And then the gear shift into Rory's anger felt straight and true.

Second, in that scene and in a number of others, people actually talked about what they were feeling. No more of that suffering silence BS that dragged down so much of season six. No more Idiot Plot where the only way it works is if people aren't honest with each other. That's the worst kind of dramatic device, and the show is much better for ditching it.

I feel bad for Lane: crap honeymoon, crap first time and pregnant on the very first shot? Not that kids aren't awesome, but you should have them when you want them -- and after you've had as much time as you need to do grown-up stuff without the logistical complications of a baby or 12. (Also, hearing about Lane's death-by-discount honeymoon made me feel much less sorry for Rory. Poor little rich girl can't tour all of Asia in a summer? Too bad.)

Not back to standards yet, but a definite step up from last week. The teaser with Luke punching Christopher was better itself than anything in the premiere.

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

The Nine: Great start, but what's next?

I review "The Nine" in this morning's column:

Reviewing a new TV show requires a certain gift for prognostication. I have to comment on the quality of the first episode, but also guess where the quality level is going from there. Some series pilots give me enough information that I feel like I'm sitting in the command center of the National Weather Service, with real-time barometric pressure data at my fingertips. The pilot for "The Nine" makes me feel like all I can do is spit on my thumb and hold it up to see which way the wind is blowing.

As a self-contained pilot episode, "The Nine" is one of the two or three best -- probably the best -- of an outstanding new season. The characters are vivid, the concept exciting and the execution flawless. And yet it gives me absolutely no clue how good the show will be next week -- or even what it might look like.

To read the rest, click here. We'll also use this as the place to comment on the pilot tonight Click here to read the full post

Veronica Mars: Boom goes the dynamite

"Veronica Mars" spoilers coming up just as soon as I ask my RA whether the bathrooms are co-ed...

"Boom goes the dynamite"! They threw in a "boom goes the dynamite" reference! I am inordinately pleased, and if you didn't get the reference, you'll be pleased, too, after watching this. (Don't feel too bad for the kid; he got a Letterman appearance out of the deal.)

As Rob has said, this episode was "Veronica Mars for beginners," with an intentionally light-weight, "Encyclopedia Brown"-ish mystery about Piz's stolen stuff, a scene where Veronica discusses why she does what she does (as much as she's willing to self-analyze, anyway), a couple of Keith-Veronica banter scenes designed to play to the Gilmore fans. And then, in the last five minutes, we're back into the seriously dark world where Keith inadvertently gets Kendall killed and Veronica inadvertently lets Parker be raped.

But with those parameters in mind, I don't know that I would have put Keith and Cormac's "Dude, Where's My Gun?" adventure into the premiere. Yes, they had to explain what Keith was up to when he blew off the start of the NY trip in the finale, but this felt pretty opaque at times to me, and I'm an obsessive fan. I can't imagine what a newbie would make of it. There was also some weird plot logic at the end there, where Cormac decides to leave Keith alone for the night even though he's, like, 20 feet from the house and half that from the car. Yes, the keys were in the house (you saw Keith pat his pockets as he went out to get the paperwork), but would Cormac really risk Keith hot-wiring it because he was too lazy to walk that far?

(BTW, let me make sure I have everything straight: Kendall is having an affair with the eldest Fitzpatrick brother, Cormac. Liam, the brother who caused so much trouble last season, has it out for Kendall and Cormac because he feels they owe him money. Having driven Kendall the hell out of town after she got all the moolah from Cassidy's business, Keith then picks Cormac up on early release from prison and shuttles him to Kendall's desert hide-out. But Vinnie Van Lowe, who's working for Liam, has snuck a tracking device into Keith's briefcase. While Keith and Cormac are waiting for a tow to fix their car, Keith takes a nap and Cormac -- who's just after the money, not Kendall -- swipes Keith's gun out of the glove compartment. Keith finds the tracking device and realizes Liam is coming, then sees the empty holster and realizes he has more immediate problems. And Cormac killed Kendall because... ? My brain hurts.)

Over on the Neptune campus of California University -- or, if you prefer, Hearst College -- I like our two new additions. Piz and Parker both add new colors to the gang, though it's hard to say what Parker will be like post-rape. A July trip to the writers' office spoiled the fact that she would be the first victim, which made Veronica's non-intervention when she went to get the tickets especially creepy to me. For the unspoiled amongst you, did you have any idea that more was going on in that scene than Veronica knew?

And speaking of spoilers, we have an early front-runner for Line of the Season: "I just ignored all the spoiler alerts, which I know is kind of douchebaggy..." Veronica, Veronica, Veronica... you go and say how you don't want to piss anyone off, and then you go and show up the TA in your favorite class. But that's why we love you.

Is it contrived that Dick and Logan got into Hearst, too? Yeah -- and they didn't even bother explaining how Logan got in, just that it was a struggle -- but the writers can't do nearly enough with either one if they're just bumming around Neptune. So I'll deal.

Pretty good start, especially given the objective, and the final scenes felt especially "Veronica Mars"-ish. I am pleased.

Other random thoughts:

• Poor Mac. Leftover trauma from Cassidy, verbal abuse from Dick, plus a roommate guaranteed to make her feel even more self-conscious about her sexual history (or lack thereof). Still, good to have her around on a more regular basis. (Or, as regular as anyone not named Veronica, Keith or Logan, who remain the only characters who can be in every episode, budget-wise.)
• So it's two boyfriends in a row to complain about Veronica being too macho, first Duncan with her love of "Lebowski," now Logan being uncomfortable with her Clint Eastwood (not to mention the way she sat on the bench exactly like him). If Piz -- whose crush on Veronica felt painfully real -- wants to have a shot at winning her heart, maybe he needs to embrace Veronica's inner Dude. Start wearing pink lace instead of Duncan's leftover argyle. Ask her to pay for meals. Something. Ah, well; at least 'shippers can stop Zaprudering old episodes to figure out whether Logan and Veronica have done it.
• Almost as good as "Boom goes the dynamite" was Moe the RA's use of "Frak," and I'm hoping Veronica's swiping of it isn't just a one-shot deal. Fake curse words are awesome.
• So now the argyle shirt has been worn by Duncan, Logan and Piz. Only a matter of time before Weevil turns up in it, no?
• Not crazy about the remixed theme song, but the new title sequence is vastly cooler than the old one.
• What exactly did Dick mean by "I messed up bad"? Is he referring to not realizing his brother was a mass murderer, to getting kicked out of campus housing, or something much worse? We already know he knows Parker; would they really make a Casablancas brother the villain for the second mystery in a row?
  
• If you thought Parker's hair looked odd pre-shaving, that's because Julie Gonzalo was wearing a wig; in an episode or two from now, Parker will get a wig that's actually Julie's real hair. And now my brain hurts. Ordinarily, I'd be annoyed that they couldn't just get her to cowboy up and pull a Portman/Weaver/Moore, but given that this show is in real danger of being canceled within a month or two, it's probably not fair to ask her to mess up future auditions when they have a simple, non-appearance-altering solution.
• Donald Fagen? A Steely Dan reference? Okay. Or is it a Dickens reference?
• Why did one of the teenage punks have a strong New England accent?

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

It's time to light the 'Lights'

This morning's column reviews one of my two or three favorite new shows (and, considering that I've seen a second episode of this and not "The Nine," it may have shifted into favorite position), "Friday Night Lights":

At one point in the debut episode of "Friday Night Lights," we see the teenage quarterback of the Dillon Panthers fade back to pass. He evades one tackler, then another, and then...

... well, that would be telling, wouldn't it? But when it comes to fictional sports stories, does that matter? Or is the knowledge of what's to come part of the point?

With real sporting events, the rush comes from the unpredictability, the way that a game refuses to follow a script. (Save for the occasional New Orleans Saints return to the post-Katrina Superdome.) If there weren't the possibility of witnessing failure, what fun would success be?

And yet there's a reason why sports movies remain so popular, why four different football films are being released this fall, why Sylvester Stallone is sucking in his gut and lacing on the gloves for a sixth "Rocky" movie. The thrill of victory may be sweeter if you risk the agony of defeat, but sometimes we just don't want to suffer, do we?

The best sports movies and TV shows provide us with a kind of certainty, the knowledge that you'll get to witness either a clear win ("Hoosiers," "Major League") or some kind of moral victory (Rocky going the distance, Rudy getting on the field).

So when I say that virtually every development in the "Friday Night Lights" premiere will be telegraphed well in advance, I don't mean it as a bad thing. The drama is one of the season's best because it makes you care even when you know something big is coming -- and because it finds pleasant little surprises along the way.

To read the rest, click here.

UPDATE: Might as well use this to get other points of view rather than starting a second FNL thread. What say you? Click here to read the full post

Studio 60: Really, I ask you, is that all there is?

"Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" spoilers just as soon as I calculate the level of self-back-patting it would take for the human spine to snap...

Okay, we're three weeks in, and if it wasn't for Matthew Perry, I would be seriously thinking of bailing. The more we see of the comedy, the lamer it seems. So, they did a Gilbert & Sullivan spoof and a Commedia Dell'Arte sketch in their first show back? And they're doing Commedia Dell'Arte two weeks in a row? Really? And this is supposed to be better than what Beavis and Hack-Boy can come up with? Pimp My Trike? That's the sort of thing I imagine Dave Chappelle throwing out in a writer's meeting, then immediately saying, "Nah, I'm just messing with you." Science, Schmience? Potentially funny in concept, not remotely in execution.

This show is just so unbearably smug and self-important, and those things could probably have been said about the good ol' days of "The West Wing." The problem was, on "West Wing" I liked and believed in the smug and self-important characters, and here I keep wanting to punch them in the mouth and say, "Hey, until you can write material of a significantly higher standard than 'Bear City' and 'I'm Carol!,' please stop condescending to the world at large."

And the show gets a 9 percent bump over the rubber-necking audience for the Gilbert & Sullivan episode? With that noted ratings magnet Rob Reiner as host? I would make a joke about wanting some of what Aaron's smoking, but I'm afraid he would write an entire subplot lecturing me for being unfair to him in his times of public humiliation. (The only saving grace of that drunk driving subplot was the look on Amanda Peet's face as she contemplates the champagne flute.)

Perry is really, really good, and I'm warming to some of the supporting characters, but the more I see of the show within the show, the less I want to see of the whole endeavor.

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

Psychic cops, flying Stop signs and convertible pants

Spoilers for "Heroes," "The Class" and "How I Met Your Mother" (in that order) coming up just as soon as I decide what the comic book about my own life would be called...

So many questions, so few answers in episode two of our superheroic journey. We realize that Hiro traveled through space and time for his jaunt to New York and got to witness both the apocalypse and the results of the election. Are they related? Will Hiro's return to the present prevent both things from happening? We're two episodes in, and I still have zero idea what Niki the stripper's powers are. Her mirror image can not only kick ass, but alter reality? Hmm... And can Peter really fly, or is his power to tap into the powers of people around him? Was the evil conspiracy trying to make some kind of symbolic point by having their hitman pose as a cockroach exterminator after Mohinder's cockroach talk last week? At what point will NBC have a "Heroes" / "Friday Night Lights" crossover where Claire gets run over by one of Kyle Chandler's players? And how much are the writers enjoying the quest to creatively maim her?

I know many of my fellow geeks were psyched for Greg Grunberg's appearance, but he wasn't exactly playing to comic relief type. Still more questions: Is our brain-stealing serial killer tied in to the nuclear detonation or will there be multiple big bads this year? Is Clea DuVall allowed to make a TV appearance on a show that doesn't involve supernatural powers?

And a question for you folks: in the original version of the pilot, Isaac cut his hand (or possibly hands) off to prevent himself from making any more clairvoyant paintings. I don't remember that scene from the final version when I watched it weeks ago, and he obviously wasn't an amputee in this episode, so was it cut or did they just ignore it?

Decent episode three of "The Class." Holly's queeny husband is completely absent, and her getting gobsmacked by the Stop sign was the single funniest thing in all three episodes. But I can't help feeling like the show would be much better if they trimmed the cast down to Jason Ritter, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jon Bernthal and one or both of the twin sisters (I go back and forth on how much Heather Goldenhersh's speaking voice annoys me). Maybe I'll feel differently when they do more mixing and matching among the eight, but there's too much dead weight.

And so, "HIMYM" finds a way to telegraph the end of Ted and Robin's relationship by presenting his parents as an exact parallel. Again, I'm cool with them staying together for multiple seasons, so long as the show doesn't drown in pathos when it's time for the inevitable split. The Marshall and Lily portion of the narrative triptych was my favorite, but there were pleasures to be found in all three. Barney got some karmic payback for last week's multiple "rack-jacking" of Marshall by having Steven Keaton do the same thing to him.

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

The Wire episode 5 talk for the On Demand'ers

Discuss episode 5, "Alliances," here to avoid spoiling the non On Demand crowd. Click here to read the full post