Category: External TV (Page 259 of 419)

Prison Break 4.3: “Shut Down”

I couldn’t place it last week, but Wyatt (the company’s hitman who is trying to track down the Brothers) seems to be channeling Laurence Fishburne from “The Matrix” series. So, from now on, I’m going to refer to him as Morpheus.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to the episode, which was actually a little bit of filler. As Don (the FBI agent) struggled to keep the operation alive, Michael had to break into an internet hub in Anaheim to retrieve a couple of emails (because Roland’s stealth data collector just happened to run out of hard disk space as it downloaded those emails). Anyway, with Sara in trouble at the front desk, Michael pulls the fire alarm to create a distraction. He returns to the server room, and he and Roland get trapped there when the room is locked down. The two almost die because all of the air is being sucked out of the room to prevent the servers from burning. Now it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that the server room locked down after Michael returned, but hey, this is “Prison Break.” Lincoln does what he does; he grabs and axe and smashes the window, freeing his brother and the “douche.”

At the beginning of the episode we were treated to a shot of Don twiddling with his wedding ring and a later shot of him gazing at his wife’s photo, so count on his marriage coming up later on. (Maybe “The Company” killed his wife?)

Morpheus now knows that the Brothers are in Los Angeles. For some reason Bruce (R.I.P.) knew they were in L.A., but he didn’t know where. Other than a convenient plot device to get Morpheus to the City of Angels, why would Bruce know where they were? Doesn’t that knowledge only put them in danger?

T-Bag’s idiotic “blood feud” has brought him to Los Angeles and now he’s trying to get a bonus check from the Gate Corporation. God only knows what’s going on there.

This week’s “you must suspend disbelief” moment goes to Mahone, who somehow knew (before the team had even acquired the emails, mind you) that the meeting of the six Scylla cardholders would take place at a power plant in Newport Beach, so he asked his former partner to hide the files he requested within walking distance of the power plant. Either (a) Mahone knew where the meet would be or (b) it was a totally lazy (or overlooked) plot progression that the writers must have assumed that the audience wouldn’t notice. All they had to do was show him driving off in the stolen cab, and have the drop point at some location other than the powerplant/docks (that don’t exist in Newport Beach, by the way), and this would have been totally reasonable. Sometimes I wonder if the creators watch the episode before it airs or if they even think about these things as they’re shooting (or as they’re writing the script).

Anyway, the gang now has video of all six Scylla cardholders, so the operation is back on.

Greetings to the New Show: “Do Not Disturb”

Back in July, when every broadcast network other than CBS was being stingier than Ebeneezer Scrooge about sending out screeners of pilots (or, in NBC’s case, first episodes, since they don’t do pilots anymore), I was pleasantly surprised when Fox stepped forward and provided us with the pilot for their new sitcom, “Do Not Disturb,” which focuses on the staff of a high-class hotel.

But then I watched it.

After enduring the viewing experience, I was still surprised that they’d provided us with the pilot…but, now, instead of being surprised that they had finished product with which to provide us, I was simply surprised that they felt like the show was worth showing to us, let alone put on the air. I don’t know if you remember my posting after sitting through the TCA panel for the show, but if you don’t, then this one sentence should provide you with sufficient insight as to my feelings on the pilot:

I was perhaps one of the few fans of Jerry O’Connell’s previous series, “Carpoolers,” and hearing that Jason Bateman directed the pilot episode of this hotel-based sitcom, I walked in ready to love it, but sweet Jiminy Christmas, this thing sucked so much that it might as well have been sponsored by Oreck.

Yes, it was just that good…and at least one other person agreed with me: my esteemed evil twin, Bill Harris of the Toronto Sun, who described it as the least funny sitcom pilot to cross his path in a couple of years. I think it’s safe to say that this dissatisfaction was shared by others beyond just writers named William Harris, however, since Fox soon made the decision to air an episode other than the pilot when the series premieres on September 10th. As a result of this move, the network proceeded to send us an advance screener of this episode as well…and after more than a week of having it sitting in my house and taunting me, I’m finally going to steel myself and watch it. But know this: I’m doing it for you, dear readers. People say that critics sit on high and look down at everyone else, deciding what’s good and what’s not, and maybe that’s true sometimes, but let’s not forget the sacrifices they make for the people who read their work…and while we’re at it, let’s not forget to ask God to have mercy on my soul for at least the next 22 minutes or so.

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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2.1 – Hey baby, can you bleed like me?

Warning: spoilers abound. If you haven’t seen the episode, stop reading right now.

For as much action as there was in the season premiere for “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” not a whole lot happened. They set up a whole bunch of stuff to happen later, but as a stand-alone episode, it was like a Michael Bay movie: stuff gets blow’d up, and you’re entertained while it’s happening, but the minute it’s over, you think, why did they need that much time to tell that little story? There is a reason for it, of course, but it’s a cart-before-the-horse reason, as if they wrote the episode backwards and worked their way to the beginning. When they got stuck, they inserted a car chase and blew shit up.

But that ending. Man, oh man, is it awesome. The last two minutes, in particular, are of the “Hell, yes” variety. Pity there was so much chaff around that sweet, sweet, wheat.

The episode opens with a decidedly not-dead Cameron, rebooting her frazzled memory chip after surviving a car bomb. (This kind of bomb apparently does not burn hair. Must be from the future.) She finds the culprits in the process of beating Sarah and John, and dispatches with them both. Then she sees John…and her chip tells her to terminate him. Holy shit! Run, John, run! How’s that for a Sweet 16; the robot that he’s wanted to have sex with for a good month or two now wants to kill him. That’s a buzz killer.

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Entourage 5.1 – Fantasy Island

After the semi-disastrous season four, the “Entourage” writers were in desperate need of a longer vacation. After all, there’s nothing like a little R&R to get you back to full fighting strength, and though that much-deserved break came in the form of the writers’ strike, it may have just been a blessing in disguise. It should come as no surprise, then, that as the new season opens, Vincent Chase is also on vacation following the disastrous performance of “Medellin” at the box office. It seems not even Harvey Weinstein could save the film, and to make matters worse, Richard Roeper has just proclaimed it as one of the worst films of the year. Better yet, he says that Vince’s make-up job made him look like “the love child of Jimmy Glick and a bag of Twinkies” and then rips into him even more by declaring that “Al Pacino called and wants his accent back.” Ouch.

Still, all the negative publicity doesn’t appear to be affecting Vince quite like it should. He’s down in Mexico with Turtle jet skiing, lounging around, and having sex with lots of beautiful women, while Eric and Ari desperately attempt to save his career back in LA. Eric’s management company has even expanded to include a secretary and a new client – Charlie (Bow Wow), an up-and-coming comic who has yet to land an actual gig. When word comes in from Ari that producer Carl Hurtz is anxious to meet with him for a new genre film called “Danger Beach,” however, the duo head down to Mexico to convince him otherwise. Vince couldn’t care less (despite the fact that Hurtz is willing to pay his full asking price), but after some rather discouraging words from Eric (who feels responsible for messing up “Medellin”), Vince agrees to give the whole movie star thing another shot.

Entourage 5.1

Upon returning home (sans bushy beard) and taking the meeting with Hurtz, however, Vince is upset to learn that he was only being used in order to drive down Emile Hirsch’s (the original star attached to the film) asking price. This is probably the last thing I expected to happen, but it actually makes sense considering Vince has been MIA for the past six months and his last movie tanked. Also, did Warner Brothers just void the contract they had with Vince and Walsh for “Silo,” or is that still happening? I guess if I was a betting man, I’d choose the former. That would also explain how Vince is able to live so lavishly down in Mexico after investing everything he had into “Medellin.” Sure, $79/day may not sound like much, but it has to start adding up when you’re unemployed.

Nevertheless, while Vince is top priority amongst the characters in the show, Eric has always been the real star. His arc has remained the most interesting of the five men, and this season promises to flesh it out even more as he stops relying on Vince and becomes a success on his own. Drama and Turtle still need to break the comic relief mold and get some meatier storylines, but where their silly antics were a bit tiring in the past, they delivered some of the best moments in tonight’s episode. Turtle blasting the porn from the Escalade was hilarious, but Drama’s retaliation against Hurtz was even better. After taking a golf club to his Mercedes and leaving a fish on the hood, Turtle asks him if he’s leaving some sort of message, to which Drama replies, “Yeah. Aquaman is back.” It’s unclear whether the same holds true for “Entourage,” but if the season premiere is any indication, it’s certainly on the road to reclaiming its former glory.

Greetings to the New Show: “True Blood”

You’ve got to give HBO credit: they know how to hype a new series.

The amount of pre-publicity for “True Blood,” the new series from Alan Ball (creator of the late, great “Six Feet Under”), has been so tremendous that it’s been almost impossible to ignore. I certainly saw my fair share of the hype when I was out in L.A., but the network’s viral marketing campaign for the show has taken awareness of the series far beyond California. It all started with BloodCopy.com, but there have been billboards, fake ad campaigns for a product called TruBlood, MySpace accounts, and more.

All this for a TV show about vampires…?

Actually, it’s a pretty savvy move on HBO’s part to throw their marketing muscle behind “True Blood,” which is based on Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampires Mysteries book series. Anyone who reads this blog knows that vampire-themed shows make for dedicated…oh, who are we kidding? They inspire straight-up obsession in their viewership, whether we’re talking about “Forever Knight,” “Angel,” or – yeah, baby! – “Moonlight.” HBO’s just playing it smart and getting the word out about the show from the get-go, to make sure it’s full-fledged event television when it premieres.

But is it…?

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