Category: TV Dramas (Page 97 of 235)

Lost 5.9 – Namaste

March 18, 2009 / Jason Zingale

For as much as I appreciate a week off from blogging, it’s hard to deny that those breaks really suck the momentum out of the show. Luckily, “Lost” makes it so easy to get sucked right back in – especially when the writers are having so much fun introducing characters from the present to former acquaintances in the past. Tonight’s episode featured several instances, and while they made a fairly big deal about Sayid meeting young Ben (probably because he’s going to try and stop him from poisoning the Dharma Initiative in a future episode), the brief mention of Ethan being Horrace and Michelle Dessler’s son was a far more exciting reveal from a fan’s point of view.

Then again, it also settles a fairly major debate regarding how Michelle was even able to have the baby in the first place. On the present day island, child birth was considered impossible until Claire had Aaron. Of course, that also didn’t happen until after Charlie killed Ethan. So what if baby Ethan was never supposed to be born, and as a result of Sawyer and Juliet saving Michelle’s life, they indirectly prevented any other child births from successfully taking place on the island until the mistake was reversed? It certainly makes a lot of sense, but I’m still not sure how it fits into the grand scheme of things.

Lost 5.9

Getting back to Sayid, the guy has run into some pretty shitty luck. While Jack, Kate and Hurley get to take the easy route as Dharma recruits (“What’s up with the jumpsuits?” “You didn’t tell them?”), Sayid has the unfortunate pleasure of being pigeonholed into the role of a hostile. Some trigger-happy nerd named Radzinsky wants to shoot him then and there, but Sawyer, who’s managed to rise among the ranks during his years as a company man, takes him to the barracks instead. What I don’t understand is why Sayid doesn’t just spin his story to make it seem like he’s running away from the hostiles? He’s already wearing handcuffs, so perhaps he could just explain that he was trying to escape. Then again, they’d probably think it was a trick and kill him anyway.

External TV, Lost, TV, TV Dramas

Baby Ethan Christian Shephard Ethan killed Jack Shephard Lost Lost blog Lost recap Lost Season 5 Lost season five Lost season five episode nine Marvin Candle Namaste

Greetings to the New Show: “Kings”

March 15, 2009 / Will Harris

Mark my words: you need to tune in for the premiere of “Kings” tonight. It’s an epic drama with the kind of scope that you rarely see on television in series form – executive producers Michael Green, Francis Lawrence, and Erwin Stoff have literally created a new world, one which provides them with the opportunity to offer tales of war and love without offending any existing countries – and it needs to be a hit right out of the box, lest it be canceled without ever having a chance to build on its concept.

If you’ve seen the commercials for the series (and if you’ve watched NBC for more than about fifteen minutes at any point in the last few months, you surely must’ve caught at least one), then it’s probable that at least one familiar face has leapt out at you: Ian McShane, late of HBO’s “Deadwood.” McShane plays King Silas Benjamin, leader of a land known as Gilboa, which, despite being an obvious monarchy, looks suspiciously like America. When “Kings” opens, Silas is preparing to address his subjects, and when he embarks upon his speech, we’re introduced to some of those who are watching it at home, including a young man named David Shepherd (Chris Egan). Unfortunately, despite the optimism within Silas’s speech, we soon fast-forward to two years later, when David and many other men of Gilboa are in the midst of fighting in Gilboa’s war against the neighboring nation of Gath.

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Allison Miller Chris Egan Erwin Stoff Francis Lawrence Ian McShane Kings Kings TV series Michael Green NBC Sebastian Stan

Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak

March 14, 2009 / John Paulsen

The name of this episode was “Daybreak,” so it’s not surprising that the fleet turned a corner of sorts this week. Specifically, Bill finished mourning for the Galactica and made a major decision — that he would lead a rescue mission for Hera. This started when he saw that picture of Hera and Athena was left on the Galactica bulletin board, and I think he took it as a sign that he had to do something. We didn’t see Sam provide the location of the colony, but that’s the assumption.

I’m not clear on why we spent much of the episode back in Caprica City before the attack. The first scene was with Bill talking to someone about something that he did not want to do. After just meeting Gaius, Caprica Six met his elderly dad. She set him up in a nursing home, so maybe that’s how she earned Gaius’s trust, eventually leading to his betrayal of his fellow humans. We saw Kara and Lee’s first meeting, though she was his brother’s girlfriend at the time. And then there was Roslin — after losing her entire family in a car accident, she had a bit of a mental breakdown.

One of the last flashbacks was of a drunk Lee having an encounter with a pigeon.

What’s the point?

I have no idea.

Back in the present, Kara continues to work on the meaning of her song, even trying to turn it into some mathematical formula, but she’s not having much luck. Gaius pleads with Lee to give his “people” representation in the government and Lee asks him if he’s ever made a single selfless act in his life. Later on, when Bill asks for volunteers, it looks for a moment that Gaius is conflicted and may join them, but when we cut to the final shot of the hanger, I didn’t see where he was. My guess is that he’s ultimately going to stick with the fleet.

That’s about it. Not a whole hell of a lot happened this week, save for Bill’s decision to go after Hera. Based on the reconnaissance, it’s going to be tough to get close to the colony…

Next week should be interesting.

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Aaron Douglas Battlestar Galactica Battlestar Galactica blog Battlestar Galactica episode 18 Battlestar Galactica Islanded in a Stream of Stars Battlestar Galactica season 4 episode 18 Dean Stockwell Edward James Olmos Grace Park Islanded in a Stream of Stars James Callis Jamie Barber Kate Vernon Katee Sackhoff Lucy Lawless Mary McDonnell Michael Hogan Tahmoh Penikett Tricia Helfer TV TV Action TV Dramas

Catching Up With… “Lie To Me”

March 11, 2009 / Will Harris

I enjoyed the pilot episode of Fox’s “Lie To Me,” but I’ve been struggling with this season’s plethora of scheduling annoyances – seriously, has there ever been a year when this many good shows were being pitted against each other? – and haven’t been able to catch it since then. I’m pleased, then, that the network has decided to provide the series with a new timeslot on Wednesdays at 8 PM, where I can actually watch it once in awhile. (I can wait on “The New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Gary Unmarried” ’til they get a DVD release, I can just read Mike’s recaps of “The Chopping Block,” right?)

According to Fox’s blurb on tonight’s episode…

“Lightman (Tim Roth) and Foster (Kelli Williams) investigate the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl who may have been murdered. Meanwhile, Loker (Brendan Hines) and Torres (Monica Raymund) must determine whether a famous peace activist is who she claims to be and if her bestselling memoir is true, but Loker’s attraction to the socially conscious woman may be clouding his assessment of her.”

Having already seen the episode, I can tell you a few other things as well:

* Lightman makes the girl’s parents cry before the opening credits roll.

* When handed a huge roomful of people who claim to have tips on where the girl is, he proceeds to narrow down the population to a far more manageable level with two quick statements.

* By episode’s end, we have learned a great deal more about Foster’s personal history, along with why she feels so strongly about this case.

* Loker attempts to offer up a compliment to the aforementioned peace activist. When he feels the need to explain to her how he means it, you will laugh and cringe simultaneously…and you will feel the same effect later in the episode, when he attempts to get his copy of the woman’s book signed.

* Alison LaPlaca guest stars as the woman questioning the veracity of the activist. You may remember her as one of Rachel’s bosses on “Friends” (Joanna, the one who utilized a pair of handcuffs on Chandler), but when I saw her, it just made me realize that “The John Larroquette Show,” where she served as the female foil, really needs to come out on DVD.

* Despite Loker’s initially poor abilities of flirtation, you will probably feel rather sympathetic for him by the time the end credits roll.

Yep, “Lie To Me” is as imminently watchable as I remembered it…possibly even more so, given that the producers seem to be doing a really solid job of spreading the wealth amongst the characters rather than turning it into “Tim Roth and Friends.” Be sure to tune in at 8 PM…yes, that’s 8 PM…so you can enjoy it as much as I did.

Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External TV, TV, TV Dramas

Alison LaPlaca Brendan Hines Fox Kelli Williams Lie to Me Monica Raymund The John Larroquette Show Tim Roth

Simon & Simon: Season Two

March 10, 2009 / Will Harris

It’s been so long since the first season of “Simon & Simon” hit stores – we’ve passed the two-year mark and we’re heading for three – that fans of the series may have feared that they’d never see any more of the adventures of private detectives Rick and A.J. Simon (Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker) released onto DVD. Fortunately, Shout! Factory has picked up the torch that Universal dropped. While it’s unfortunate that there aren’t any special features on the set, the packaging reminds us that it is indeed a bonus that Shout opted to spend the coin to include the “Magnum, PI” crossover episode that kicked off the second season of “Simon & Simon.” As far as the show itself goes, it’s relatively pedestrian as detective shows go, but it does manage to rise above its one-liner concept – “They’re detectives and they’re brothers!” – thanks to the performances of McRaney and Parker as well as Mary Carver, who plays the boys’ mother, Cecilia Simon. Guest stars this season include Ray Walton (“My Favorite Martian”), Eddie Albert (“Green Acres”), Richard Anderson (“The Six Million Dollar Man”), Dean Stockwell (“Quantum Leap”), and Richard Kiel, a.k.a. Jaws in the Bond flicks, but don’t go looking for Downtown Brown to rear his head. Alas, Tim Reid didn’t become a regular cast member ’til Season 3…and as it stands right now, there’s no word on whether Shout has plans to release that or not.

Click to buy “Simon and Simon: Season Two”