Wow, y’know, I didn’t realize this whole Scare of the Day feature would keep me quite as busy as it has; I’ve only just had the chance to play a little catch-up and watch the second episodes of a couple of this season’s new shows. Here are my thoughts on a couple of the series and how they’re doing…

Reaper – Episode 2 started off with a little too much in the way of shenanigans from the poor man’s Jack Black (my buddy Jim Washington feels certain that that’s how poor Tyler Labine is gonna get labeled, and it’s hard to argue based on the way they portray his character, Sock, during the first quarter of the show this week), but, thankfully, things got back on track once Sam finally got around to starting the hunt for his latest soul. I was disappointed with the way Sam’s mom’s mood changed so dramatically from the pilot and got more upbeat, since it seemed like the darkness pervading her could make for more drama, but the soul recovery was just as enjoyable this time as last, and, of course, Ray Wise continues his reign of awesomeness. In short, I’m still digging it and continue to look forward to more.

Dirty Sexy Money – I think it’s more of a guilty pleasure, but I’m digging this show just as much now as I did in the pilot. It’s got that nighttime soap feel even as it clearly wants to poke fun as the character types that are its primary focus. I particularly enjoyed the beginning sequence which clarified the profound differences between the lives of Nick George and Tripp Darling (the characters played by Peter Krause and Donald Sutherland, respectively). It seems as though it could get a little old if it’s gonna be a weekly occurrence that Nick’s wife is gonna keep harping on about the fact that “this isn’t part of your job description” and “your dad wasted his life on these people, don’t you waste yours as well,” but what can I say? It’s fun watching the obvious parodies of the Hilton siblings, I’m curious to see where they take the storyline of Patrick and his transsexual “mistress,” and, thankfully, they’re clearly steering the mystery of who killed Nick’s dad away from the family. (I was already fearing that that had the potential to be a dead end for the series.) It’s over the top at times to be sure, but with Bryan Singer as a producer for the show, at least you can be confident that it’s over the top with a wink at the audience.

Bionic Woman – I may have watched the whole episode, but I mentally tuned out at the moment Jaime’s sister called her and asked her where her Tenacious D t-shirt was. Remember what I said about how the sister felt less like a character and more like a demographic-satisfying creation? At this point, I couldn’t feel more confident about that declaration. Otherwise, even with the addition of Isaiah Washington to the mix, Episode 2 was pretty shrug-worthy. Damn, I’m glad I started with the backpedaling when I did; otherwise, my face would be pretty damned red right about now.