Category: TV Action (Page 131 of 145)

Battlestar Galactica: “Exodus”

October 21, 2006 /

So the jailbreak is on, but Tigh has to poison his own wife first. She gives a nice speech, making him feel even worse about what he had to do. With all her faults, it was obvious that he really did love her. But you know what they say: once you go Cylon, you can never go back. Here’s hoping that Tigh loses his eye for good – how great would he be with a black patch?

The coolest thing about the escape was Adama’s ruse with the drone ships and the subsequent jump into New Caprica’s atmosphere. There’s Galactica, crashing to the planet, but he’s able to launch a crapload of vipers before jumping away.

For a moment there, it looked like he was going down with his ship, but you just knew that Lee would show up with the Pegasus to save the day. I thought it was interesting how the writers figured out a way to save Galactica while destroying Pegasus at the same time. After all, it the show isn’t called “Battlestars Galactica and Pegasus,” is it?

I have to say that the special effects on the show are tremendous considering how much the creators grumble about limited budgets. The space battle scene was extremely action-packed, and the effects are getting so good that you don’t get lost in little details that look odd, which was still a problem for sci-fi television as recently as a few years ago.

It looked like both the Cylons and the humans were each going to leave New Caprica with a hybrid baby, but Casey turned out to be a random human child. Katee Sackhoff’s (Starbuck) acting was terrific in that scene on the ship. When she discovered that she wasn’t Casey’s mom, she looked like she had just been punched in the gut.

I’m curious how Maya died on the way to their ship, leaving the baby Hera for the Cylons. Roslin stressed to the leaders of the insurgence how important it was that they get off the planet, and while tons are others are able to escape, they are not. I wish we had been able to see how that happened. Maybe they can tie a flashback into a future episode to explain it.

The Admiral looks better without the ‘stache. Now if we can just get Lee to go on a diet…

Battlestar Galactica, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

Five new series that must survive the season

October 19, 2006 /

With new shows starting to drop like flies, I started thinking about which cancellations would break my heart. Here are five series that absolutely must survive the season, along with this week’s odds of it being cancelled, as determined by the good folks over at BrilliantButCancelled.com.

“Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” (Mondays, NBC) (144:1)
NBC has put its weight behind this new Aaron Sorkin series, which follows the goings-on behind the scenes at a late-night comedy show. The dynamic between Bradley Whitford and Matthew Perry (who play the fictional show’s producer and writer, respectively) is terrific, while Amanda Peet is shockingly convincing as the network exec in charge of programming. But the most pleasant surprise has been the performance of Sarah Paulson, who is so convincing as the show’s star (coming up with killer Juliette Lewis and Holly Hunter impressions), it makes me wonder why she didn’t go into sketch comedy in the first place. “Studio 60” has quickly filled the void left after “The West Wing” left the air, and while its ratings are way behind “CSI:Miami,” the word is that the numbers are still well ahead of the baseline that NBC needs to keep the show on the air. Sorkin’s cred can’t hurt, either.

“Heroes” (Mondays, NBC) (483:1)
This series has been a strong ratings earner, so it doesn’t appear to be in much danger of being cancelled, as evidenced by the long odds. The separate storylines are starting to come together and the acting is getting better. The show is darker than expected; it deals with date rape, drug use, infidelity and murder, which makes perfect sense – in order to have heroes you must have villains. Plus, it can’t hurt to have arguably the best new character of the season – Hiro Nakamura, the Japanese time traveler.

“Friday Night Lights” (Tuesdays, NBC) (72:1)
While the series based on Texas high school football hasn’t been a ratings giant on Tuesday nights, it has done well with young men, which is the toughest demographic to reach. I was concerned about the casting of Kyle Chandler (his eyebrows bother me), but he’s been solid as the team’s head coach. I’m especially interested in the future of the backup QB, played convincingly by Zach Gilford, who was thrust into the spotlight when the star QB went down with an injury. The show is shot in a herky-jerky sort of way, which adds to its realism, especially during game sequences. I might have put the series on Wednesday night – smack dab in the middle of the week to give football fans a fix before the weekend, but I’m sure more scientific thought than that went into the show’s scheduling.

“Jericho” (CBS) (34:1)
This show needs to make it through the year, not because it’s particularly good, but because I want to know what the hell is going on. In many respects, the show has been “CBS’ed.” That is, there are too many heart-heavy, family-oriented moments and the soundtrack generally sucks, but the show’s terrific premise and the subsequent questions will hold my attention throughout the season. Who attacked us? What do they want? Where do the citizens of Jericho (and its country) go from here? I sure hope that if the show is cancelled, they’re at least given enough notice to provide answers to those questions.

“30 Rock” (NBC) (134:1)
My wife would kill me if I didn’t include this show on the list. Tina Fey’s half-hour comedy about the goings-on behind the scenes at a late-night sketch show (sound familiar?) has proven that “30 Rock” and “Studio 60” can co-exist. “30 Rock” is schticky, while I find “Studio 60” wittier. Even though the two shows have the same premise, they go about it in very different ways. Aside from “The Office” and “My Name Is Earl,” there is a dearth of good sitcoms on the air, so “30 Rock” is more than welcome to join the party. By the way, Alec Baldwin is hilarious as the network exec in charge of the show.

For those that missed an episode or would like to get caught up can go to each show’s website to watch back episodes. The NBC shows have this week’s episodes available for streaming, while “Jericho” appears to have all back episodes available for online viewing.

External TV, Heroes, Jericho, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas

K-Fed acts (or something)

October 16, 2006 /

I keep looking at my watch and notice that K-Fed’s 15 minutes have been up a few months ago, but for some reason the dude keeps getting work. Not that this is new news per se in regards to his career, but Defamer has his “acting debut” on CSI hot linked for all to enjoy. Their report on the whole damn thing has more juicy bits than I knew about, so please enjoy.

On a related note, though, I was talking to an old friend of mine the other night who now works with a dance company out in L.A. and she knows K-Fed personally. Her take on the man is that he’s completely lazy and never wants to show up for rehearsals, etc. Not that any of that is a surprise. I asked her to guesstimate how much more time his marriage to Britney will last and her opinion was not too much longer and that he was all pissy about the prenup even though there’s more than he deserves in it.

I’m not bitter. The guy’s just an easy target. Now if only that damn CD of his would be released.

(Edit: The hot link to the videos has now been removed but click here to see numerous K-Fed clips from the show.)

News, TV Action, TV Dramas

Battlestar Galactica: “Exodus, Part 1”

October 14, 2006 /

Boy, that Ronald Moore is a sly motherf’er. Last episode ended with Callie running through the brush and gunfire in the background. This week, the show opens with the same scene and then jumps back an hour in time to show how Chief caught wind of the execution and hatched a plan to free the prisoners. I like the misdirection, but technically, Callie wasn’t running when the gunfire started. Chief ran out and knocked her to the ground before the resistance started shooting. Also, she wasn’t really in the brush…All right, I’ll stop nitpicking, but it would be a lot easier if there weren’t nits to pick.

I wasn’t sure what Boomer was going to do when she was confronted with the news that her baby (Hera) is still alive. For now, she’s still a colonial officer, but the decision to take Hera away from her mother might come back to bite the humans in the proverbial ass. Anyway, she retrieved the launch keys for the colonial ships so the table is set for a prison break…wait, that’s another show.

Is it just me, or is Doral (the younger, male Cylon) becoming the most annoying character on the show? As Brother Cavil was relating the story of the rescue, and how the humans left him there to die, Doral had this smarmy comment to say to Baltar: “Aren’t you a noble race.” Excuse me, but weren’t you about to execute a group of prisoners? Then he has the audacity to say, “Worse comes to worst, we can just nuke the city and be done with it.” Noble, indeed.

Last week, I said that Ellen wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. She stole the map of the resistance rendezvous with the Galactica crew and gave it to the Cylons. She should have rewritten the map (although Tigh would have probably recognized her handwriting), but instead she just handed it over. When Starbuck’s boyfriend/husband discovered the map on one of the skinjobs, the betrayal led back to her. Did you see the look in Tigh’s one good eye when he learned the news? Ellen is in some serious trouble.

The episode ended with Admiral Adama learning that Boomer successfully retrieved the launch keys, and with the fleet readying for the rescue. By the way, how cool is it when Adama punches his desk?

“Exodus, Part 2” should be a good one.

Battlestar Galactica, External TV, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

TV DVD QT, Vol. 2

October 12, 2006 /

Here we are, back again, with another bunch of shows…

The Facts of Life: The Complete Third Season – Fortunately, the show’s theme song sums itself up handily: you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have…“The Facts of Life.” Except that instead of “good” and “bad,” you’ll want to substitute “cheesy fun” and “occasionally excruciating dialogue.” It ruins the flow of the song, but it’s far more accurate, I can assure you. By this time, the series had settled into its primary five cast members: Mrs. Garrett and her four favorite girls, Blair, Natalie, Tootie, and Jo. Ah, sweet Jo…I had such a crush on you. That must be why I recognize just about every episode here. That’s right, I watched “The Facts of Life.” You wanna make something of it…? Better you should complain about the total lack of special features on this set than my taste in television circa the mid-’80s.

Blue Thunder: The Complete Series – Did the world really need a series based on the Roy Scheider film about a hi-tech police helicopter? Well, considering that a fair amount of stock footage was recycled from the film and that, instead of Scheider, the series starred Dana Carvey, Dick Butkis, and Bubba Smith, I’d say, no, it did not…which would probably explain why it only lasted eleven episodes. Not even a cool theme song and James Farentino in the lead role of Frank Chaney…in no way to be confused with Scheider’s character of Frank Murphy, of course…could save this show from a quick demise. In a nutshell, it’s no “Airwolf.”

Three’s Company: Season Eight – Otherwise known as the last season of everyone’s favorite farce…and I’m sure you’ll be as shocked as I was to discover that there are a fair amount of misunderstandings and ensuing wacky hijinks contained within the plots of these 21 episodes. Only diehard fans will have stuck around for all eight seasons of the series, but the special features – bloopers, reminiscences of John Ritter, and the 30th anniversary special – will thrill that particular demographic to no end.

That ‘70s Show: Season Five – Hey, everybody! Donna and Eric are back together! Some would say the funniest thing about this season is that every single episode is named after a Led Zeppelin song (if you don’t believe me, check out the official episode guide and see for yourself ), but I love this show. It’s a great ensemble. The special features on these sets, however, have dropped off dramatically since the show went off the air; there’s not even a single audio commentary! But on the other hand, Donna wears a Catholic school uniform for most of the season, so, to come full circle, let us return to the “Facts of Life” theme song. You take the good, you take the bad…

External TV, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV DVDs

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