Category: External TV (Page 254 of 419)

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.3 – Running to stand still

Um, this is classified as an action show, right?

For the second straight week, an hour passed in which the overall story arc – assuming there is one – was pushed forward a few inches, tops. Catherine Weaver reaches out to Agent Ellison in the hopes of seducing him into working for the dark side. That’s pretty much all that happened in the grand scheme of things. The rest of the hour was taken up by an attempt by Cromartie to lure Sarah and Derek out into Nowheresville while he attempts to take out John back in the city. Oh, and John once again put his life in jeopardy, this time to hang out with Riley. We understand that it must be hard for a teenager to be so deathly serious all the time, but damn, man, you’re the last hope of mankind. Cowboy up, punk.

Any way you can get me out of this show? Can't just just have me killed or something?

Back to this whole story arc thing – do the producers even have a plan? They have to, right? Otherwise, they don’t get the green light to go on…right? Still, after watching tonight’s awesome season premiere of “Heroes,” and sifting through the dozens of story lines they unveiled, this show, by comparison, is moving like the turtle that Matt Parkman thought was talking to him in the desert. Are budgetary issues preventing them from a) adding new cast members to expand the story, or b) throwing in some splashy action sequences? Heck, this week’s episode didn’t even include a flash-forward to some post-apocalyptic wasteland. Instead it was all dark, crowded warehouses and the Santa Monica pier. Wheeee.

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Heroes 3.1 / 3.2 – The Old One-Two Punch

“Heroes” is back, baby…and to celebrate, NBC gave us a one-hour recap special, followed by two brand-new, full-length episodes. Rather than waste time, let’s get to talking ’bout what happened, shall we?

Episode 3.1

After a close encounter with his niece which proves that Claire is still about as dumb in the future as she is in the present, FuturePeter jumps back to the day Nathan was originally going to reveal his powers to the world at large and attempts to change history with a couple of quick gunshots. I’ve already read a few bloggers who’re asking, “Why did he only go back to a few minutes before Nathan made his revelation? Why didn’t he go farther back and, y’know, catch Nathan in a less public place?” And, really, there’s only one answer to that question: because if he’d done that, then there wouldn’t have been much of a story. And, thus, FuturePeter pops a couple of caps in his brother…and successfully, no less. Yeah, we knew the bullets connected, but who would’ve thought that he’d really die? Not that it’s a permanent situation, but, still…

It was so nice to see Hiro getting back to being the same loveably funny and hopelessly heroic guy that we saw in the first season. The guy just loves to be a hero, and he can’t resist that instinct, no matter how many times Ando may plead with him to do otherwise. It was great when Hiro decided to open the safe despite his father’s posthumous order, only to meet with a second message from him. (“I asked you not to open the safe!”) So who has the purity of blood…? I loved the special effects used to designate the motion of the new speedster hero – c’mon, Hollywood, let’s get that “Flash” flick fast-tracked now, shall we? – as well as the way she cold-cocked him. (“But I am on my feet.” BAM!)

Sylar’s dialogue when he paid a call on Claire was deliciously villainous and comic-book-y, though I could’ve done without his awful description of his time spent south of the border. (“It’s all behind me now, like a long night after a bad taco”? Really?) The sequence with Claire wandering through the dark house, trying to avoid capture, was straight out of a grade-B thriller, but it was still effectively creepy, particularly when he finally succeeded. Okay, when he was first poking around in Claire’s head (literally), all I could think of was the scene at the end of “Hannibal,” when Dr. Lecter popped the top off Paul Krendler’s skull, but Sylar definitely got my attention…and Claire’s…when he said that she could never die. What, never…? (Well, hardly ever…)

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Old Show, New Season: “The Big Bang Theory” / “How I Met Your Mother”

Monday night TV sucks.

No, wait, hear me out: it sucks because there are now officially too many good shows being broadcast on Mondays.

Haaaaaaaave you checked out the schedule for 8 PM? Starting next week (Sept. 29), the following shows will be competing against each other: “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother” on CBS, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” on Fox, “Chuck” on NBC, and “Gossip Girl” on The CW. Even if I had a splitter for my TiVo – note to self: get a splitter for my TiVo – I’d still be out of luck, since it’s not like my system is capable of recording four shows at the same time…and, geez, it’s not like there are enough hours in the day to keep up with this much programming, anyway!

Good thing, then, that CBS was kind enough to give me the hook-up on the premieres of “The Big Bang Theory” and “How I Met Your Mother,” so I could scope them out and give you a bit of a preview without fear of missing tonight’s episodes of “Sarah Connor” or “Gossip Girl.” Mind you, I still don’t know what I’m going to do next week, when “Chuck” premieres, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it…

I don’t think I could’ve been more pleased with the Season 2 premiere of “The Big Bang Theory.” It was one of my favorite new series last year, but given the way it ended, with Penny (Kaley Cuoco) sharing a moment with Leonard (Johnny Galecki), you couldn’t help but worry that things were moving a bit too fast between the unlikely couple. Sweet or not, it’s just really hard to imagine a relationship between a physicist and a Cheesecake Factory waitress working out for the long haul…and, fortunately, Penny has the same concerns at the conclusion of their first date.

Unfortunately, however, she makes the mistake of sharing those concerns with Sheldon (Jim Parsons), who reacts about as well to her suggestion that he not tell Leonard about her worries as he reacts to everything else.

In short, he freaks out.

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Ten comments about the 2008 Emmy Awards

1. Call him a dick for saying it, but Jeremy Piven’s dismissal of the opening of this year’s ceremony during his acceptance speech was right on the money. After that brief montage of stars quoting classic TV catchphrases, Oprah killed the show stone dead with her opening remarks, and the never-ending sequence by the reality-show hosts was downright painful. It was the worst beginning to an Emmy broadcast that I can remember.

2. I liked “Recount” as much as the next guy, but Tom Hooper was robbed. He totally deserved to win the award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or a Dramatic Special for his work on “John Adams.” That said, Jay Roach defused my anger somewhat when he thanked “my rock ‘n’ roll sweetheart, Susanna Hoffs,” in his acceptance speech.

3. Don Rickles can be funnier with one motion of his eyebrow than Kathy Griffin is likely to be in her entire career…and, indeed, he proved this tonight.

4. Bryan Cranston, God love him, only won his Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series because of the split-vote phenomenon.

5. I’m not saying Josh Groban’s TV-themes medley was great, but hearing him screech Cartman’s lines in the “South Park” theme was worth the price of admission.

6. Ricky Gervais’s bit where he demanded that Steve Carrel return his Emmy was brilliant…but with that said, I went to see “Get Smart” at the local discount theater this weekend instead of paying full price to see “Ghost Town.” I’m just saying.

7. As happy as I was to see “Mad Men” win Outstanding Drama Series, I think I was just as psyched that “Damages” got the love it did in the acting categories. I might’ve picked Ted Danson to win over Zeljko Ivanek, I admit, but I’m sure as hell not complaining. Season 2 of that series can’t get here soon enough.

8. It was totally an industry joke, but when Tom Hanks thanked Chris Albrecht during his acceptance speech for “John Adams,” then cupped his ear to see if anyone would applaud, I laughed out loud.

9. Although way too much was made of the whole Outstanding Reality-Show Host award (and giving the Outstanding Reality-Show Competition award to “The Amazing Race” for the sixth consecutive year was abso-fricking-lutely ridiculous), Jimmy Kimmel’s waiting until after the commercial break to announce the winner was truly inspired.

10. Tommy Smothers is my hero.

Entourage 5.3 – The All Out Fall Out

A year ago, I might have had a few words to say about how tonight’s episode did very little to progress the main storyline, but the whole subplot involving Ari and Adam Davies was so damn entertaining that I’m willing to give the “Entourage” writers a break this time around. Sure, a filler episode isn’t exactly the best idea when you’re trying to win back your fanbase, but it was also so enjoyable that it was well worth the risk.

Though it certainly wasn’t the main focus of the night, the Ari/Davies prank war was some of the best comedic material of the show’s five-year run. You just knew that Ari would do something as stupid as get into an illegal street race with Davies on his first day driving his new Ferrari, but I definitely didn’t expect him to crash it into a school bus. Well, “crash” is probably the wrong word – it was more of a subtle bump. Nevertheless, Ari lost the friendly wager, and being the upright guy that he is, he tells Lloyd to send Davies the $100 in a brown paper bag… filled with human shit. When a pair of police officers breaks up his meeting with T.I. hours later, Ari thinks he’s being arrested for the juvenile prank, only to discover that they’re strippers sent by Davies as retaliation.

Entourage 5.3

Not one to quit when he’s down, Ari pulls up some nude photos of Davies’ girlfriend that she gave him when she worked at the agency, and sends them to him with the hope that he’ll be crushed by the idea that she always wanted to have sex with Ari. Instead, Davies is quick to inform Ari that they broke up six months ago, and when he announces that he’s just posted a nude photo of Mrs. Ari on the internet, Ari goes apeshit. Determined to beat an apology out of Davies if it comes to it, Ari heads to the old agency to confront him, even going so far as to bitch slap him to accentuate how much of a bitch move that was on his part. Davies refuses to apologize, but when Ari threatens to “knock [him] the fuck out” if he doesn’t, Davies cowardly admits defeat.

The rest of the episode wasn’t quite as memorable. Eric heard back from Amanda about the script, but despite her acknowledgement that she liked it (and that Edward Norton is interested in some capacity, probably as a producer), we’ll have to wait until next week to find out more. Drama, meanwhile, is recovering from his break-up with Jacqueline, and when Vince gets an offer for some easy cash to serenade a girl at her Sweet 16 party, Drama ruins the night by throwing up on the cake. Perhaps more upsetting, however, was the complete waste of both Kevin Pollack and Fran Drescher as the girl’s parents. Seriously, was that the best they could come up with? Hell, I could have played the girl’s father and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Be smart, guys, and stop wasting talent on roles like this before you have to settle for much worse.

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