Category: TV Action (Page 114 of 145)

Jericho, Episode 20: Everything’s Gone Green

April 26, 2007 /

Damn. Why wasn’t this show as good at the beginning as it is now? Maybe the producers are panicking a little bit about the uncertainty of a second season and have decided to pull out all the stops. Whatever the case, this week continues “Jericho”‘s roll of excellent episodes.

This was a very Green-heavy week – Jake and Eric are still in prison, Johnston finds out about it and goes after them, and Gail gets a lot of face time both as a result of her work in the hospital and her sketchy relationship with Eric’s girlfriend, Mary – but, of course, Hawkins gets some face time as a result of having gone with Jake to rescue Eric, and we also visit with Dale and Skylar for a bit, too.

The Greens

I gotta say, I spent a decent amount of the episode not entirely sure that Eric was going to still be among the living by the time the closing credits rolled; I really liked the way they kept things uncertain on that front. I’m also consistently amused by the fact that, although Jake’s clearly the bad boy of the family, his dad is clearly still the biggest badass in the gene pool; Gerald McRaney has been consistently impressive with the way he walks that line between being a good ol’ boy and being a guy you’re rather intimidated by. I have to say, though, that what I wasn’t overly impressed with was the return of Maggie; she seems a lot less witty and entertaining now than she did in her initial appearance. As far as Gail and Mary, I’m glad that they didn’t just provide an automatic reconciliation and an instant happy ending; that it’s taking awhile for them to have some respect for each other actually feels rather realistic.

Hawkins

Actually, I guess he doesn’t necessarily need his own individual write-up here, since his appearances were all tied in to the Greens, so I’ll just say that, as an agent, I would’ve expected him to be a bit more skeptical about Maggie’s story when she came running up to them. But whatever.

Dale and Skylar

Damn. Dale’s just got the look of one of those guys you’d describe as “quiet, kinda kept to himself a lot” after he’s done something really, really awful…and he’s only getting more bitter. That whole “you and me against the world” attitude is gonna get him killed soon. I just sense it. Meanwhile, Skylar’s becoming more and more sensitive since the incident with the Mayor about trying to declare her parents dead. How long ’til they come back? Because you know that at least one of them will. You just KNOW it.

Anyway, next week looks to be another nice, dark episode as well. New Bern vs. Jericho, winner takes all. All I’m saying is, they better wrap this shit up in the season finale, because if there’s no second season, I’m gonna be pissed if things end in a cliffhanger…

Closing note: I went to the show’s Wikipedia entry to confirm the name of a character, and, um, did anyone else realize that the morse code you hear when the show’s title card pops up is different each week? There’s a separate Wikipedia page for each episode, and they indicate what’s been said in code. This week’s was “We Pledge.” Is this information being posted elsewhere, or is there just a morse code expert out there who’s writing up the entries each week…? Either way, it’s a pretty cool maneuver by the producers, and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to become aware of it.

External Entertainment, External TV, Jericho, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

“Drive” cancelled: The Minear/Fillion curse strikes again

April 25, 2007 /

Admit it. We all knew it was coming, but did you all think it would happen so soon?

Drive

According to sources at TV Guide, FOX’s new drama, “Drive,” has been prematurely cancelled after airing only four of its thirteen season one episodes. Centered around an illegal, cross-country car race, the show got off to a great start during its two-hour premiere and hasn’t slowed down yet. The premise alone is promising enough for anyone who enjoyed the first season of “Prison Break,” so its surprising to see that not as many people tuned in. Of course, rumor is that many were turned off by the fact that they knew FOX would cancel it, and so they didn’t want to engulf themselves in yet another television history where they would never see the conclusion.

The future of the show didn’t look good as soon as word got out that “Firefly” star Nathan Fillion was teaming up with show’s co-creator Tim Minear for a new series, but we all figured that FOX had learned its lesson the first time around. Both Minear and Fillion are very talented people, so it sucks to see yet another collaboration between the two flushed away so quickly. Is two weeks (three episodes aired in the first week alone) literally all the time a network can afford for a new show to find an audience, because if so, they aren’t going to have enough shows to fill the voids come pilot season.

With “Family Guy” not quite as great as it used to be and “24” experiencing the worst season of its six-year history, what else does FOX have to compete with the other networks? Not much, which makes the cancellation of “Drive” all that more disappointing. And to think I was debating blogging this show…

Oh well, I guess we have the DVD to look forward to, and if we’re lucky, maybe Universal will buy the rights and make a movie like they did with “Serenity.” Wishful thinking? Probably, but it could happen.

External Entertainment, External TV, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

24, Hour 19: CTU’s terrible, horrible, no good very bad hour

April 24, 2007 /

So let’s take a look at what has happened to CTU in the last 60 minutes:

– Director Bill Buchanan, the lone sane man in a sea of crazy, was fired by Karen Hayes, his wife, for releasing Fayed two years ago for lack of evidence. That’s right, he was fired for following procedure and not obtaining a then-innocent man. Holy “Minority Report,” Batman.
– Morris O’Brien, fed up with the flippant cruelty of his ex-wife and current girlfriend (that comment about arming the nukes was a low blow), has requested a transfer out of coms.
– Acting director Nadia (!) has ordered the arrest of Jack Bauer. I’m actually on her side on this one. She had to do it: he went rogue and left them no choice but to take him down. However…
– Because of the Ricker’s impulsiveness, Cheng got away with the chip despite Jack’s plans to blow Cheng, the chip, and himself sky high. In the meantime, Cheng’s men blew a CTU helicopter out of the sky.

That’s some bad hat, Harry.

As much as I didn’t like seeing Cheng get away with the chip – if you were shocked by the outcome, congratulations, you haven’t watched as much TV as the rest of us – I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Cheng’s men launch a bazooka at that CTU helicopter. The gloves are off again, or as they said in one memorable “South Park” episode, it’s on. China just attacked the United States’ Counter-Intelligence Unit. Is there any way that China can spin this in such a way that they’re the victim? Don’t think so. Hit ‘em with everything you’ve got. Nice to see the show sport some onions.

And for the second week, I saw Senator Roark’s assistant/concubine wince at the thought of getting physical with him. Sure, she kissed him and said she’d get a change of clothes, but that woman’s body language is saying something compleeeeeeeetely different. She’s saying, “Damn it, I was kissing William Fichtner on the set of ‘Invasion’ a few months ago! Now I’m kissing…this? He damn well better make me the new First Lady.” And the funny thing is, she’d still be a distant second in the list of blindly ambitious First Ladies, but that’s a topic for another blog altogether. And speaking of First Ladies, I just realized: Wheelbarrow Wayne doesn’t have one, either. Or if he did, where is she? Is that even allowed? Was there speculation about his preferences during his campaign due to the Seinfeldian trifecta of Palmer being thin, neat and single?

And lastly, there’s Audrey, or what’s left of her, anyway. Her babbling towards the end of the episode sounded like Tara after the demigod Glory scrambled her brain in Season Five of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” I have to say, I didn’t see that coming. When I saw her walk in with the bulky coat, I immediately thought, “She’s strapped with C-4, too,” and that Cheng was going to blow Jack sky high after he was safely out of range. Since that didn’t happen, well, I’m at a loss for how they resolve that plot thread in a way that ends with me giving a damn. Could we get JJ Abrams to take over as show runner for a season? Screw the final frontier, JJ: we need you here and now!

24, External TV, TV, TV Action

Heroes, Week 19: The (Point-Oh-)Seven Percent Solution

April 23, 2007 /

I’d love to say that time has flown since the last new “Heroes” episode, but who am I trying to kid? I’ve been waiting for this with bated breath. Basically, what I’m saying is that every Monday night since March 4th has been a waste of time. Finally, however, Mondays are worth living for again…well, for the next five weeks, anyway. And although the episode-beginning conversation between HRG and Eric Roberts was a little too melodramatic for my tastes, just about everything else within this week’s “Heroes” was spot-on.

The deceptively casual nature of the chat between Nathan and Mr. Linderman belied just how serious the discussion was. Mr. Linderman’s power to create life from lifelessness seems to arguably be one of the most powerful of all; how ironic, then, that it should be in the hands of the man who seems to be the most ethically…or, at least, morally…challenged. (It’s amazing how chilling the phrase “acceptable losses” can be when uttered in a certain context.) Linderman’s interest in Micah can’t be a good thing…and it’s clear that Nikica agrees. I wouldn’t want to be in that shapeshifter’s shoes when Miss Split Personality gets a hold of her.

The escape orchestrated by HRG with Matt and Ted was inspired, with HRG relaying instructions to Matt, who was clearly wayyyyyy out of his intellectual depth. And I wasn’t paying close enough attention, I admit it, but…was the diner where they were grabbing a meal the same one where Charlie used to work?

The battle between Peter vs. Sylar was short but sufficiently harsh. Gosh, it sure was nice of Mohinder to deliver Peter’s dead body to his mother, wasn’t it? There wasn’t much in the way of real suspense with the whole Peter-is-dead bit, of course, but when Nathan started crying, all I could think was, “If his tears are real, they ain’t for his brother; they’re because he just lost the Presidency.” Am I cynical? I don’t think so. But back to Peter. Didn’t you love the graphic sound effect when Claire pulled the piece of glass out of his skull.? Nice. And speaking of Claire, her newly discovered grandma sure turned into a hard-ass out of nowhere, didn’t she? I mean, Jesus, in the first episode, she seemed like a woman lost, and now look at her! The conversation between Claire and Nathan, meanwhile, was about as depressing as they come. Thanks, Dad! Good to meet you, too!

Isaac vs. Sylar was kind of a one-sided fight, but it must be said that Sylar’s nailing Isaac to the floor with paintbrushes was grotesquely inspired. The realization that Sylar’s now able to fortell the future, unfortunately, means that the grand finale is going to be particularly nasty.

And as long as we’re talking about finales, Future Hiro showing up only in the last seconds of this episode was just cruel…but at least next week looks like it’s all about the future.

The three best lines of the night:

1) “I know this man.” “Good! If you see him, tell him I want my sword back!” – Nathan and Mr. Linderman, respectively
2) “Oh, my God! You’re middle management!” – Matt Parkman
3) “He’s no longer with the company.” – Thompson

In closing, can I just ask, “NBC, are you effing kidding me? You pulled ‘Studio 60’ for ‘The Real Wedding Crashers’? You can’t find ANYTHING better than this piece of crap to follow ‘Heroes’ with?!?”

External Entertainment, External TV, Heroes, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

“You gotta wonder what’s next.”

April 22, 2007 /

At one point during tonight’s episode, Tony told Beansie that things were going great, but he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Excuse me? Things are going great? Not only are the feds up your ass more than ever, but your brother-in-law beat the snot out of you two weeks ago, you said last week that you thought your cousin wanted you dead, and this week you very nearly dropped one of your oldest, closest friends over the side of a boat. Again. If this is “going great,” I’d hate to see Tony after a bad day.

I’m sure some people will complain about this episode’s apparent lack of action, but think about what’s been accomplished now: Tony had the brawl with Bobby, the backlash from which we still haven’t seen; Tony’s convinced that Chris despises him and Chris thinks Tony’s pissed about his movie; and now Tony apparently thinks Paulie is so much of a liability that he’s giving serious consideration to whacking him. Three episodes in, and Tony’s at odds with three of his guys. If I’m Sil, I’m watching my back.

It was pretty cool to hear some of the stories Tony, Paulie and Beansie were sharing this week, and that picture of young Paulie was awesome. I wasn’t entirely sure what Tony was trying to accomplish on the boat, but it seemed like he kept harping on the joke Ralph told about Johnny Sack’s wife because he was looking for a reason to off Paulie. When Paulie flat-out denied that he told Johnny about the joke, T thought about going through with it anyway before deciding to chuck a bottle of beer at him instead. Still, judging by what Tony told Beansie and by how annoyed Tony seems to be with Paulie these days, it certainly seems like Paulie’s living on borrowed time.

Fortunately, the potential problem with the Willie Overalls killing from 1982 (apparently Tony’s first) blew over, but after Sil told T the good news, he said, “You gotta wonder what’s next.” Maybe it’s not the most optimistic outlook, but it definitely seems to be a realistic one. The feds may not be able to pin Willie Overalls on Tony, but that won’t stop them from digging up something else on him.

Speaking of which, did anybody else think the girl Tony hooked up with was asking too many questions? Seems if you’re “laying low,” as Tony told Paulie earlier in the episode, you use your aliases even around the ladies. The blonde Tony slept with seemed awful interested in the people at the table the night before, and she said something that made it sound like she’d been talking with Paulie too. Something to keep an eye on, maybe.

How great was it to see Junior back in action? Sure, it’s not quite the same now that he’s hopped up on meds in that criminal loony bin, but he’s clearly still a little ‘oobatz.’ That Asian kid that was hanging around Junior was trouble from the get go, and I figured he was going to attack Junior at some point, but I wondered if he would actually kill him. Turns out he just beat Junior up pretty good. How exactly Junior’s arc this week relates to the overall storyline is a bit unclear, though I’m thinking it was a way to show just how far someone of Tony’s stature (and Junior’s before Tony) could eventually fall.

Finally, I guess we should discuss the drama in New York, where the guy who whacked the guy everyone thought was going to take over for Johnny Sack got whacked himself (got all that?). This time, Phil was behind the hit, and for a good reason: you just don’t take food off another guy’s plate. I’ve always known that, but now I know just how dire the consequences can be if you break that rule. Keep your fork to yourself. Lesson learned.

External Entertainment, External TV, The Sopranos, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

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