What I'm Watching on TV Right Now
We've established that there is very little network TV that I watch. Okay, there's really very little TV I watch that is not on ESPN or Cartoon Network. So since I found myself watching 2.5 hours of Prime Time Network TV last night, I figured it was worth mentioning to you. That and I'm not ready to write about my college trip last weekend yet.
Eureka
SciFi Network, Tuesdays at 8:00pm.
Eureka is about a top-secret town populated by the world's greatest scientific minds, and overseen by the US government. Most of the significant inventions of the last 50 years were actually concocted here. The town's sheriff is crippled in the first episode, and a U.S. Marshall--Jack Carter--passing through town helps save the town. He becomes Sheriff, and is the lead character.
This is a really good show. Pretty much all of the characters are interesting, and well acted. There's some really good casting--the guy who plays Miles Bennet Dyson in Terminator 2 is the town's hero (other than Carter), and Max Headroom is another character--and I like some of the jokes worked into the characters themselves, such as the head of the Eureka corporation (which everyone not working in the town infrastructure works for) being obviously modled after Tony Stark (Iron Man), to which they even share the same last name.
The show can get zany and the science is far out, but it works. The cast is good and likeable enough to suck in the people who aren't into SciFi shows. You should check it out.
How I Met Your Mother
CBS, Mondays at 7:30pm.
This is about a guy (Ted) who is narrating the story of how he met his wife to his kids. It's basically a look at mid-to-late 20's life today, both single and in relationships.
The cast is very meh, at best, with one exception: NEIL PATRICK HARRIS. Make no mistake people: he carries this show, singlehandedly. He is fantastic. He plays a self-absorbed alpha male who is only interested in banging as many chicks as possible. It's fantastic. He is hilarious. NPH is truly a comedic god. You must watch this show. It's fantastic. And, after watching an episode or two, you want to know how Barney became like he is, then just come here and watch this episode to find out. It's well worth your time.
Battlestar Galactica
SciFi Network, Fridays at 8:00pm
Yes, I'm a nerd. But this is a great show. It's very dark, so much so that I had trouble getting into it. However, I'm very glad I did, as this is outstanding show. Good acting, good plot, good writing, and they operate very outside of the safety norm of TV. With most TV shows, they are pretty formulaic--even the good ones. However, the season finale of BG last year was so good, and was such a dramatic plot shift that I honestly thought 50 minutes into the episode, "Man, this must be some kind of dream sequence, because I cannot believe they just went here." Well, it wasn't--it's a show that is willing to take risks like that, and it pays off. The Season 3 premier is Friday, and there's even a cool Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far DVD out that catches you up on the important storylines from the first two seasons, so you can be on top of things if you start the show now. I thought that was a really cool idea.
Studio 60
CBS, Mondays at 9:00pm
I watched the first episode of this show and thought it was great. I watched the first half of the second episode and thought, "What happened? This sucks." I watched the second half of the second episode and thought, "Okay, this is better--good enough to get me to watch next week, but it had better wow me." Good show that is basically a look at the fall and fictitional recovery of Saturday Night Live. Here's the good of the show: I love Matthew Perry, and I love Brad Whitford (West Wing). Two great actors. I love the premise, and I like that NBC has enough balls to take a harsh look at it's own network, as we're examining why SNL sucks now, and one of the main reasons is that the network won't let it run any jokes that could possibly be offensive in any way, shape, or form. So that's the good.
The bad? I don't like one of the lead actresses (Sarah Paulson, who plays Harriet Hayes)--I think she's got nothing. They're asking Amanda Peet to actually act in this role and not just be cute, and that's asking a little much. She was horribly misscast there. And--worst of all--D.L. Hugley is involved. That's right. I'm watching a show with D.L. Hugley in it. The very thought makes me throw up in my mouth. Good God, the next thing you know, I'm going to be playing on a basketball team with nothing but white guys. Uh...wait a minute...
Here's something that amused me about the show. Of course, at the end of the last episode, they did the 30 second preview, and one of the big items is that Amanda Peet (who is NBC'S president in the show) got arrested for DUI once. This was apparently going to be a big deal on the show. Now, you have to love the hubris of television execs. To them, a major TV exec getting a DUI is a big deal. But let's be real here people: have any of us (you know, the viewers) ever not watched a show because the network president got a DUI? Or because the director of the show went to rehab for a coke problem? Come on. We don't give a shit. We know all you wackos are drunk and doing blow. Calm down.
Just thought that was amusing. So we'll see about this show--not promising anything, but it could be good.
Heroes
NBC, Monday's at 8:00pm
This is probably going to suck. Cross The 4400 (good show!) with X-Men and leave out the costumes, and you have Heroes. People start developing superpowers through mutation. However, a higher power seems to be guiding these heroes to prevent a disaster. Hope the bad guys working towards the disaster don't win!
Hopefully the first episode was just slow because it was introducing you to characters. Unfortunately, the powers were incredibly predictable--a girl who is Wolverine, a guy who can fly, your psychic, your college professor trying to gather all the mutants, and a kid who can teleport/manipulate time.
Two things saved this show: first, the only actor who I'd ever seen before, Ali Later (Final Destination movies, House on Haunted Hill), has some kind of split personality power that was unique. I'm curious to see what she can do. Second, I thought that the Japanese kid who can control the space/time continuum was hilarious.
This is another "I'll watch it tonight and if it doesn't wow me I'm out" show. So we'll see.
Eureka
SciFi Network, Tuesdays at 8:00pm.
Eureka is about a top-secret town populated by the world's greatest scientific minds, and overseen by the US government. Most of the significant inventions of the last 50 years were actually concocted here. The town's sheriff is crippled in the first episode, and a U.S. Marshall--Jack Carter--passing through town helps save the town. He becomes Sheriff, and is the lead character.
This is a really good show. Pretty much all of the characters are interesting, and well acted. There's some really good casting--the guy who plays Miles Bennet Dyson in Terminator 2 is the town's hero (other than Carter), and Max Headroom is another character--and I like some of the jokes worked into the characters themselves, such as the head of the Eureka corporation (which everyone not working in the town infrastructure works for) being obviously modled after Tony Stark (Iron Man), to which they even share the same last name.
The show can get zany and the science is far out, but it works. The cast is good and likeable enough to suck in the people who aren't into SciFi shows. You should check it out.
How I Met Your Mother
CBS, Mondays at 7:30pm.
This is about a guy (Ted) who is narrating the story of how he met his wife to his kids. It's basically a look at mid-to-late 20's life today, both single and in relationships.
The cast is very meh, at best, with one exception: NEIL PATRICK HARRIS. Make no mistake people: he carries this show, singlehandedly. He is fantastic. He plays a self-absorbed alpha male who is only interested in banging as many chicks as possible. It's fantastic. He is hilarious. NPH is truly a comedic god. You must watch this show. It's fantastic. And, after watching an episode or two, you want to know how Barney became like he is, then just come here and watch this episode to find out. It's well worth your time.
Battlestar Galactica
SciFi Network, Fridays at 8:00pm
Yes, I'm a nerd. But this is a great show. It's very dark, so much so that I had trouble getting into it. However, I'm very glad I did, as this is outstanding show. Good acting, good plot, good writing, and they operate very outside of the safety norm of TV. With most TV shows, they are pretty formulaic--even the good ones. However, the season finale of BG last year was so good, and was such a dramatic plot shift that I honestly thought 50 minutes into the episode, "Man, this must be some kind of dream sequence, because I cannot believe they just went here." Well, it wasn't--it's a show that is willing to take risks like that, and it pays off. The Season 3 premier is Friday, and there's even a cool Battlestar Galactica: The Story So Far DVD out that catches you up on the important storylines from the first two seasons, so you can be on top of things if you start the show now. I thought that was a really cool idea.
Studio 60
CBS, Mondays at 9:00pm
I watched the first episode of this show and thought it was great. I watched the first half of the second episode and thought, "What happened? This sucks." I watched the second half of the second episode and thought, "Okay, this is better--good enough to get me to watch next week, but it had better wow me." Good show that is basically a look at the fall and fictitional recovery of Saturday Night Live. Here's the good of the show: I love Matthew Perry, and I love Brad Whitford (West Wing). Two great actors. I love the premise, and I like that NBC has enough balls to take a harsh look at it's own network, as we're examining why SNL sucks now, and one of the main reasons is that the network won't let it run any jokes that could possibly be offensive in any way, shape, or form. So that's the good.
The bad? I don't like one of the lead actresses (Sarah Paulson, who plays Harriet Hayes)--I think she's got nothing. They're asking Amanda Peet to actually act in this role and not just be cute, and that's asking a little much. She was horribly misscast there. And--worst of all--D.L. Hugley is involved. That's right. I'm watching a show with D.L. Hugley in it. The very thought makes me throw up in my mouth. Good God, the next thing you know, I'm going to be playing on a basketball team with nothing but white guys. Uh...wait a minute...
Here's something that amused me about the show. Of course, at the end of the last episode, they did the 30 second preview, and one of the big items is that Amanda Peet (who is NBC'S president in the show) got arrested for DUI once. This was apparently going to be a big deal on the show. Now, you have to love the hubris of television execs. To them, a major TV exec getting a DUI is a big deal. But let's be real here people: have any of us (you know, the viewers) ever not watched a show because the network president got a DUI? Or because the director of the show went to rehab for a coke problem? Come on. We don't give a shit. We know all you wackos are drunk and doing blow. Calm down.
Just thought that was amusing. So we'll see about this show--not promising anything, but it could be good.
Heroes
NBC, Monday's at 8:00pm
This is probably going to suck. Cross The 4400 (good show!) with X-Men and leave out the costumes, and you have Heroes. People start developing superpowers through mutation. However, a higher power seems to be guiding these heroes to prevent a disaster. Hope the bad guys working towards the disaster don't win!
Hopefully the first episode was just slow because it was introducing you to characters. Unfortunately, the powers were incredibly predictable--a girl who is Wolverine, a guy who can fly, your psychic, your college professor trying to gather all the mutants, and a kid who can teleport/manipulate time.
Two things saved this show: first, the only actor who I'd ever seen before, Ali Later (Final Destination movies, House on Haunted Hill), has some kind of split personality power that was unique. I'm curious to see what she can do. Second, I thought that the Japanese kid who can control the space/time continuum was hilarious.
This is another "I'll watch it tonight and if it doesn't wow me I'm out" show. So we'll see.
posted by Michael Pondrom at 7:51 PM
2 Comments:
Well, good luck this evening.
Thanks!
??
Michael
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