Category: TV Dramas (Page 153 of 235)

Friday Night Lights: “Who Do You Think You Are?”

January 19, 2008 / John Paulsen

I don’t know how they do it, but the creators of this show found a way to make a mundane task like choosing the right daycare fairly interesting. Maybe it’s because I’m an expecting father, but I felt the Taylors’ pain when they had to leave Gracie at daycare for the first time.

Other than that storyline (and the awesome cameo by Glenn, “Um, I think she needs her diaper changed”), I wasn’t too crazy about this episode. The old, mistake-making Lyla was a lot more interesting than the new-and-improved, preachy Lyla. While Riggins’ call to the radio show was pretty funny (“Um, I think Jesus is kinda hot”), the rest of the storyline was pretty bland. However, it does appear that the Lyla/Riggins relationship will be moving forward next week.

Santiago’s brush with his past is kind of cliché, and the most compelling thing about that thread is the trust that’s developing between he and Buddy. Buddy’s growth is both funny and endearing. He’s like a little kid with a new toy, and the new toy is a 16 year-old ex-con. His spiel about “judging people by what’s on the inside” at the bar was hilarious, especially when he followed it up by asking one of his friends if he should hide his watch from “a bunch of thugs.” (On a side note, it was nice to see “Veronica Mars” alum Francis Capra again. He played Santiago’s friend.)

The last less-than-stellar storyline this week was the exploration of racism as a part of Smash’s relationship with Noel. I thought it was odd (and pretty unrealistic) that her parents would invite everyone over for dinner only to spring an ambush at dessert. To top things off, we have the stereotypical white racist bothering Smash’s sister at the movies. The incident will probably prompt Smash to break things off with Noel. Yawn.

For the sake of QB1, I was sad to see Carlota go, but there wasn’t really anything going on in that relationship. It felt a little abrupt, but the moment the two shared at the birthday party seemed genuine. Now that they’re both single, methinks this may eventually lead to a Matt/Julie reunion, but expect QB1 to go through some tough times first.

Lastly, for anyone that’s interested, the moody song playing over the final few scenes was Devendra Banhart’s “Now That I Know,” which is off his 2005 album, Cripple Crow. The show sure does a nice job with its music.

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

What’s Worth Watching: The Last of the Scripted Shows…For Now.

January 16, 2008 / Will Harris

In these dark days, with the writer’s strike continuing along unabated, new episodes of scripted television are getting harder and harder to come by. For the most part, our favorite series have either run all of the episodes that were finished before the strike or, if their respective networks are really stingy, they’re still holding on to one or two episodes, to dole out as the need arises. There are, however, a few exceptions to that rule, and we’re here to spotlight those series that still have at least half a dozen new episodes on deck.

We’re not going to pretend that we here at Bullz-Eye are actually fans of every single one of these shows, but we are fans of scripted comedy and drama, and as steadfast supporters of the writers in this strike, we’d like to think that watching even the worst of these shows is still better than having reality series like “America’s Top Dog” or “Farmer Takes a Wife” shoved down our throats.

Start programming your TiVo by clicking here.

Battlestar Galactica, External Entertainment, External TV, Jericho, Lost, News, The Wire, TV, TV Action, TV Comedies, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

Prison Break: “Boxed In”

January 15, 2008 / John Paulsen

Here’s a sentence that I never thought I’d hear uttered:

“You’re going to throw down a chicken foot over a puddle of puke?”

But that’s “Prison Break” for you.

As the FOX promo said, the brothers are back. When we last left them, a foiled escape attempt led to a decision by the new warden (we’ll just call him “The General”) to kick Scofield out of Sona. A few minutes in the hotbox and Michael sang like a canary, choosing to trust The General when he said that he could help.

This course of action showed some promise, but alas, the show is called “Prison Break” not “Let The General Help You Out.” The General seemed like a pretty smart guy, someone who has had to survive in a tough business, so it seems quite odd that he’d only take one soldier on his trip with Gretchen to find LJ. Sure, one soldier should be enough if it were only Gretchen he had to worry about, but didn’t he allow for the possibility that she might be setting a trap? At the very least, you’d think he’d account for a few armed men with the hostage, who just might put up a fight.

(Sigh.)

Anyway, The General and his sole bodyguard are dead and Michael is back in Sona. What is old is new again.

The writers did their damndest to touch base with just about every character on the show. Michael, Linc, T-Bag, Sucre, Gretchen, Whistler, Sofia, T-Bag, Bellick, Luchero, Sammy, Sammy’s drug dealer, McGrady, Mahone and even Mahone’s friend (who looks like she has some romantic feelings for everybody’s favorite corrupt FBI agent) all got some screen time. It made for a scattershot episode, but it pushed the storyline back into the prison, and it looks like Michael still has to break everyone out. The best thing to come out of this episode was Michael’s declaration that he’s coming for Gretchen. For me, that’s the proverbial carrot at the end of the “Prison Break” stick.

Anyone who fell for Linc and Sucre’s little spat in the lobby of the hotel should look inward and ask themselves if they have paid proper attention to the show during its three seasons. I saw that switcheroo coming from ten miles away, and believe me, I’m not bragging. We were supposed to be surprised when Sucre broke into a little smile in the hotel room, but really, was anyone surprised?

(After that spiel, I doubt anyone will admit to that now.)

I’ll end on a prediction – Linc and Sofia get together by the end of the season. Whistler did say he loved her, but she doesn’t trust him anymore and Linc just saved her life. I’m not sure when, but those two are going to hook up.

One last thing – I noticed something a little odd. LJ said he was there when Gretchen killed Sara, but he said he closed his eyes. Are the creators leaving open the possibility that Sara is alive? I guess all it would take to convince Linc about Sara’s death would be a fake severed head, and it wouldn’t be too hard to fool him. I don’t think that’s the direction they’re heading, but I thought I’d throw it out there and see if it sticks.

External Entertainment, External TV, Prison Break, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas

The Wire 5.2 – Unconfirmed Reports

January 13, 2008 / Jason Zingale

The second episode of season five has come and gone, and you can officially color me worried. Not for the quality of the show, mind you – because that’s always remained first-class – but of the questionably slow pacing. True, previous seasons of “The Wire” have always taken four or five episodes before jumping into the meat of the story, but with three less episodes than usual this time around, doesn’t it seem like David Simon and Co. should be getting a move on? It seemed like that may have been the case with tonight’s show, but when all was said and done, I still felt like that there was something still missing from the big picture.

With Lester and Sydnor working on the Clay Davis case (who, as we all saw, is so worried about the upcoming Grand Jury hearing that he never once uttered his trademark, confidence-boosting phrase), and the rest of the Major Crimes detail back on Homicide, Marlo has been given the all-clear to get back to business (i.e. killing people). That includes hunting down Omar (who has yet to make his season five debut) and going behind Prop Joe’s back to make a deal with the Greeks. And who other than Avon Barksdale to help the kid out? Sure, Marlo declared war on the Barksdale clan when he was on the rise, but we all know how Avon feels about Prop Joe, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he’s chosen to side with a fellow West-sider.

the_wire_5-2

What Marlo doesn’t realize, however, is that a lack of OT pay hasn’t stopped Lester from bringing the drug-slinging murderer down, and within days, he’s back on stakeout duty. When he discovers that Marlo, Chris and Snoop are already back to their sloppy tactics, Lester enlists the help of McNulty for the case, but without any financial backing from the BPD, the pair go looking for help elsewhere, including the local Feds. Unfortunately, not even the FBI wants anything to do with the hanging 22 murders (nor any other federal task force, for that matter). Bunk and Lester claim that it’s because most of the dead bodies are blacks, so what does McNulty do? He creates an imaginary serial killer by “strangling” an already dead (white) male with the hope of gaining the mayor’s attention. Will it do the trick, or just land McNulty in some serious Vic Mackey-type trouble?

There’s plenty more to talk about – like how Carcetti’s mayoral decisions seem to favor his upcoming run for governor (though is that a bad thing?), how Bubbles is clean but doesn’t seem happy about it, or how the Baltimore Sun scenes still don’t fit in with the main story arc (seriously, who cares about that whiny reporter, Scott?) – but it simply isn’t worth spending time on until it actually begins to matter. Here’s hoping it’s sooner rather than later.

External TV, The Wire, TV, TV Dramas

McNulty Omar Little The Wire The Wire blog The Wire finale season The Wire season 5 The Wire season five

Friday Night Lights: “Jumping the Gun”

January 12, 2008 / John Paulsen

Tonight’s episode was a great example of how the series can take off-the-field issues and have them play out dramatically in a game. It was obvious that the Laribee coach was troubled throughout the week, and he didn’t earn himself any good karma points by sniping at Eric every chance he got. I enjoyed the chess match at the end of the game, but I was a little confused about who was outsmarting whom. It sure seemed like Eric wasn’t going to fall for the other coach’s trap, but after he called for a Saracen rollout, the other coach was telling his players that that was the play that Dillon was going to run (after saying he was baiting him on the seam pass). So I guess the other coach’s frustration boiled over when he saw Riggins chugging down the field for the go-ahead score despite the fact that he called the right defense.

Anyway, I suspect that the coach tackling Riggins was the “oh, shit!” moment that Will Harris was talking about last week.

I wasn’t real pleased with Julie’s decision to keep the truth from her dad at the expense of Riggins’ reputation, but I was proud of her (yes, proud) that she fessed up at the end. Eric’s apology to Tim was heartfelt; though the timing was a little odd considering Riggins had just stolen $3K from a drug dealer. Hmm, I wonder if that’s going to come back to bite him in the ass.

Speaking of Riggins, he had the line of the week when he told his ex-girlfriend, “If you want to finish the Riggins trifecta, my dad lives in Corpus. I could probably give you his number.” Classic.

I found the whole Shelly storyline a little tedious, and I wasn’t too surprised that she overreacted to Eric’s comments and decided to leave Dillon for Dallas. Just because the Taylors didn’t want her living in their house doesn’t mean she has to move to another city. The whole thing seemed like inorganic drama. (Though it was funny that she taped “The Office” over his game film.)

Lastly, Smash got his wish and verbally committed to TMU. Even though he was going against Eric’s advice by immediately committing, it seemed at the end like we were supposed to feel good about his decision. I guess since that it was always his “dream to play at TMU,” then that was the proper end to that storyline. Also, there’s the potential for Smash’s story to continue if the series gets picked up for another season.