Category: TV Action (Page 101 of 145)

Heroes 2.3 – The Prodigal Villain Returns

October 8, 2007 /

In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I had a couple of things working against me tonight when watching “Heroes,” namely the pair of ear infections my 2-year-old daughter is presently battling. My wife’s taking a class on Monday nights this semester, so Daddy ended up watching this week’s episode while snuggling next to his daughter, unable to take any notes; I also had to rely on subtitles as often as not, due to the poor, mournful cries of “Dadddddyyyyy” coming from next to me.

Yes, it was pitiful. But, really, what were my options? My TiVo’s in the shop, and by the time I realized that I was going to be playing the dutiful Dad during the 9 – 10 PM viewing hour, I didn’t have time to get the old, faithful VCR hooked back up. So we’re dealing solely with my recollections, and…well, let’s hope they’re pretty decent, shall we?

Sorry, but that’s the way it goes when you’re SuperDad.

So, first and foremost, Sylar’s back! And…well, I think that was supposed to be Candice Wilmer who saved him. Wasn’t it? I mean, apparently, “Reaper” couldn’t spare Missy Peregrym long enough to film a couple of scenes, but the powers seemed the same, and with those kind of powers, she can make herself look like anyone else…well, anyone but Missy Peregrym, apparently. Anyway, I wasn’t surprised to see Sylar made the mad dash to eat her brain, but I was surprised when he found that her powers hadn’t been transferred to him after all. Guess he should’ve finished listening to what she had to say, eh? Niki and Micah are also back, though the extent of their story was for Niki to drop Micah off in New Orleans before heading up to NYC for a meet-and-greet with Stephen Tobolowsky about being cured of her power / multiple personality disorder. By the way, I said this when they first brought George Takei onto the show, and I’ll say it now as well: the reveal of Nichelle Nichols would’ve been a hell of a lot more effective if they hadn’t boldly gone ahead and put her name right in the opening credits.

Hiro discovered that Kensei had the power to heal himself, not entirely unlike a certain cheerleader we’ve met. By the way, was I the only one who didn’t realize that’s what had had happened last week? For some reason, I thought Hiro had manipulated time and healed the wounds in the process. It didn’t occur to me that Kensei had healed his own wounds. Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny when Hiro basically just dumped Kensei’s ass in the middle of harm’s way (times 90!) and said, “Okay, now go make history,” but I didn’t love the end of the storyline, with Hiro deciding to stick around mostly because he’s got a crush on a girl. Dude, you finally just fixed history; why do you wanna go and screw with it all over again? I also found it pretty unlikely that the notes Hiro left for Ando in the base of the sword wouldn’t have been found by archeologists at some point, but, okay, I’ll suspend my disbelief for that one, at least…

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External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

Friday Night Lights: “The Last Days of Summer”

October 6, 2007 /

When last we left them, the Dillon Panthers had won state and Coach Taylor was considering a move to Austin to coach for TMU. I thought that last season’s finale was buttoned up a little too cleanly with the Panthers winning the state championship; it might have been better had the team fallen short in their quest for the title, but that decision might have had something to do with the tenuous footing that the series was on last season.

NBC decided to move the show to Fridays, which an interesting marketing ploy, but one has to wonder, aren’t the people that would be most likely to watch a show about high school football out watching high school football on Friday nights? Friday isn’t a very good night for television, but let’s hope that the word of mouth surrounding the series gives it a much-needed boost in the ratings.

Anyway, Coach Taylor decided to take the TMU job and his absence is causing Julie to act out. She’s flirting with “the Swede” at the pool and it’s causing tension in her relationship with Matt. She called Matt “perfect” yet she’s concerned about how easily they could turn into her parents. “There has to be more than this,” she said. I thought Coach had some great advice for Matt after he found out that his daughter was flirting with the Swede: “Don’t just stand by and let it happen.”

Meanwhile, Tami wasn’t nearly as sassy as usual, but that probably has to do with the fact that she just gave birth and she’s having a tough time dealing with her husband being gone for months at a time. She made her own bed, however, by putting her foot down and deciding to stay in Dillon instead of moving to Austin with Eric. That’s good for us though; if the Taylors had moved, there really wouldn’t be a show.

The episode’s most dramatic moments stemmed from the surprising Landry/Tyra/stalker storyline. The same guy attacked her last season, but the whole series of incidents in the premiere sort of came out of nowhere. Anyway, Landry’s unrequited love is charming and it looks like the two will have a strong connection going forward, for better or for worse.

One of the great things about “Friday Night Lights” is the realism in the conversations between the different teenagers on the show. This isn’t “Dawson’s Creek,” where the kids talk like college professors. These high schoolers talk like high schoolers; they stammer and step on each other’s words, just like real kids do. I could listen to Matt and Landry philosophize all day. The whole “WWRD” (What Would Riggins Do?) bit was hilarious.

Speaking of Riggins, he’s been up to no good all summer, boozing it up and sleeping around. He had a great line when the newly religious Lyla asked him what he’s been doing recently. He replied, “I had a three-way with the Stratton sisters.” There appears to be a Lyla/Riggins storyline brewing – it looks like Lyla might have her newfound faith tested by her attraction to Tim.

Lyla also had a great line when she said a prayer before dinner – “And please let other people at this table have the strength to realize that a mother of three should not be wearing skinny jeans.”

Going forward, it looks like conflict abounds. Coach Taylor will struggle with his decision to leave Dillon, Matt’s jealousy of Smash’s increasing profile could cause issues between the two while Riggins clearly has a personality conflict with the new coach. “Friday Night Lights” is great because the characters are so distinct and they each have their own crap to deal with. Moreover, it’s a small town, so everything intertwines eventually.

The big question is, when and how will Coach Taylor return to Dillon for good? Is this something that’s going to happen mid-season, or will he coach for TMU for an entire year?

External Entertainment, External TV, Friday Night Lights, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

Second Episode Spectacular!

October 5, 2007 /

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.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, Reaper, Reviews, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

Heroes 2.2 – Back on the Attack

October 1, 2007 /

Here’s a comic-book-movie analogy for you: if last week’s “Heroes” season premiere was “Spider-Man,” where we got all the back story and set up out of the way, then this week’s episode was “Spider-Man 2.” Or, in other words, it dispensed with all the boring crap and just set straight to kicking ass and taking names.

Note to self: if I ever get amnesia and end up tied up in the back of a bar in Dublin, remind me to answer all of my captor’s questions so I don’t get a fierce arse beating. Still, Peter managed a nice comeback right around the half-hour mark of the episode. And, y’know, it was right around then that I noticed something else: did Peter reform himself after he exploded and give himself a better build, or did Milo Ventimiglia just spend the summer working out? Either way, dude looked downright musclebound when he swaggered out of the back room. The whole “Peter’s identity in a box” thing seems odd, but I’m willing to wait and see how it plays out.

For one shining moment during this episode, you could almost believe that the Bennet family was normal…well, until Claire drove off to school, anyway. It was back to business when HRG and the missus started chatting about the death of Hiro’s dad. Looks like the search for the seven remaining Isaac Mendez originals is going to be an ongoing plot thread throughout this season. By the way, I couldn’t believe that Mrs. Bennett actually got a funnhis season that didn’t involve her being eccentric; I grinned when, after Claire reached into the boiling water to retrieve the wedding ring, she said, “We do have a colander, dear. No need to be flashy.”

It seems so weird that Ando and Matt have never before, given that we’ve watched a year’s worth of “Heroes” episodes involving both of them, but it looked like we weren’t going to get much in the way of development on the whole “who killed Mr. Nakamura?” storyline this week…but, then, there was the great scene when Mama Petrelli realized that Matt was reading her mind and promptly “yelled” at him, which was followed by our first official “oh, shit” moment of Season 2, courtesy of the unexpected attack on Mama Petrelli. The sudden cuts back and forth between the attack and Matt and Nathan running to try and stop it made for a highly disconcerting effect.

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External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, TV, TV Action, TV DVDs, TV Sci-Fi

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