A look back at the best and worst of last week, and a look ahead to what's coming up.
Highlights
1. Lost. Time-tripping along in the season premiere. Round and round the island goes, when it stops, nobody knows . . . . Though there were plenty of plot twists and revelations, my personal favorite parts were Hurley chucking a Hot Pocket at Ben (was I the only one who had Jim Gaffigan chirping "Hot Pock-ets!" in their head during that scene?) and Frogurt the annoying Lostaway getting a flaming arrow to the chest. That'll teach him to speak out of line to Sawyer.
2. Battlestar Galactica. It was a quiet episode, but more like the quiet before the storm. The little dashes of humor -- Adama's "Sometimes I hate this job" -- were a nice break from the bleakness of last week's premiere. It was gripping to watch the seeds being sown -- Baltar preaching a message of anarchy, Roslin giving up the fight and Gaeta making yet another horribly bad decision -- and wondering how it will all turn out.
3. Flight of the Conchords. Bret ("Brit!") buys a $2.75 mug that throws him and Jemaine into poverty, and the only way out is for Jemaine to become a man-whore. Hooo boy, who hasn't been there?
Honorable mention: Burn Notice. It's nice to have Michael and the gang back. Those overhead shots of Miami are amazing eye candy in HD. And a bikini cat-fight to boot! Rarrrr!
Lowlights
1. Top Chef. Restaurant Wars is usually among the best episodes of the season. But this one floundered under the weak leadership of both teams. This has been a pretty uninspiring year for Top Chef, and this episode was pretty par for the course. Radikha's hosting must have been pretty awful for her to go home, considering Leah's entree was inedible. Can't wait for Leah to go home. In fact, just give them all the boot except for Jamie, Fabio and Stefan (and maybe Jeff) and let them battle it out. It's pretty clear they're head and shoulders above the rest.
2. The Office. The whole Hilary Swank hot-or-not bit went on for waaaay too long. And I was disappointed that Michael caved and decided to crush the nice family paper company.
3. That creepy commercial for a certain car insurance company featuring the farmer who looks like a refugee from Deliverance, a driver who looks like a serial killer asking for directions, and a wad of cash with eyeballs sitting on a fencepost. It just makes me want to change the channel.
Looking forward to. . .
1. Battlestar Galactica. Looks like civil war starts to break out in the fleet. Oh frak. . .
2. Damages. Ellen gets out into the field with an investigative reporter, and bad things happen in West Virginia. (Do good things ever happen in West Virginia?)
3. Lost. Lord knows what'll happen. Just let it come, and I'll try to figure it out later.
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Showing posts with label Flight of the Conchords. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flight of the Conchords. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Frak yeah!
This weekend is highlighted by the season premieres of two of the most highly anticipated shows of the season (for me, at least).
The final season of Battlestar Galactica kicks off at 10 p.m. tonight on Sci Fi. Those who've never watched it might chuckle at the name, but seriously, this is arguably the best show on television. No other show goes so deep into the issues of paranoia, war, social norms, morality, religion and ultimately, what it means to be human. If you aren't caught up, don't bother tuning in. There's backstory that you NEED to see first. But the previous seasons' DVDs are out and the show's on Hulu.com, so catch up fast. Tonight's premiere was written so it could have served as the series finale if the show had fallen victim to last year's writers strike, and they're promising some mind-blowing revelations (the identity of the final One?) If you saw last season and need a refresher course, catch the frak up here. You can also catch up on the 10-part webisode that reveals a big secret in Gaeta's past that may rear its ugly head tonight.
And then on Sunday, Flight of the Conchords is back for its second season on HBO. The first episode has been available online for a couple weeks, but I'm waiting to see it on the big screen. Errr, at least the bigger-than-my-laptop-screen screen. This is one of the funniest shows on TV, and if you haven't checked it out yet, it's definitely worth a look.
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Monday, January 12, 2009
Starting all over again
This post comes about a week late, but if you haven't noticed yet, TV's midseason relaunch is in full swing.
Scrubs came back last Tuesday on a new network (ABC). It's been fun to watch this show mature (though I don't know it mature is the right word to use in this case). I've always been a believer that less is more when it comes to this show, and I hope they tone down the ridonkulousness level. Last week was encouraging, especially the second episode centered around the dying patient. That mix of humor and poignancy is what has made Scrubs great in the past.
Nip/Tuck was also back last week, but come on, is anyone still watching this show? It went over the edge loooooong ago. Have they tried a head transplant yet? If not, they I predict one this season.
Last Wednesday saw the Season 2 premiere of Damages. Sure, Season 1 took ridiculous twists and turns, but it has arguably the best cast on television (Emmys for Glen Close and Zelko Ivanek), especially now with the addition of Oscar-winners William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as well as Deadwood's top scowler, Timothy Oliphant. Throw in Rose Byrne and a career perfomance from Ted Danson and you've got magic. This season promises to be no less convoluted and suspenseful, and I'll be watching every minute.
Damages has a lot of company on Wednesdays though, with Top Scallop -- errr, Top Chef (sorry, Jamie, but Fabio hit that nail on the head) -- and Lost, which returns next week.
24 kicked off a the latest longest day of Jack Bauer's life last night, but I just can't do it. Sloppy writing, poor planning on story arcs and characters acting totally out of character ruined this show long ago. If this season turns out to be any good, I'll just catch up on the DVDs later.
The final season of Battlestar Galactica starts Friday night, with the human and Cylon survivors trying to make sense of the post-apocalyptic wasteland that was once called Earth. And who's the final Cylon? All will be revealed, they promise. And rumor has it the Final One will be revealed sooner rather than later.
Also coming Friday is Season 3 of Friday Night Lights on NBC, just as the season's original run on DirecTV ends. I'm watching Season 1 now on Netflix, and I'm loving this show. How I managed to miss it until now baffles me, but it's definitely worth watching
Season 2 of Flight of the Conchords begins Sunday, and New Zealand's fourth most-popular folk/comedy band will release new songs from the shows every Monday in iTunes. That'll be nice for when you have a song like "Hiphopapotamus vs. Rhymenocerous" stuck in your head. Sadly, this might be the Conchords' last season. Apparently it isn't easy to write an original musical comedy series. And -- say it ain't so! -- the first episode deals with the band firing their hapless manager, Murray.
In a departure from its usual summer airing, Burn Notice is back next Thursday. Breezy, action-packed and smart, this show really deserves a bigger audience. Hopefully the sight of tropical Miami will draw in some snowbound viewers.
There's also a handful of new reality shows, but I'll get to those in a future post. Stay tuned.
Read more!
Scrubs came back last Tuesday on a new network (ABC). It's been fun to watch this show mature (though I don't know it mature is the right word to use in this case). I've always been a believer that less is more when it comes to this show, and I hope they tone down the ridonkulousness level. Last week was encouraging, especially the second episode centered around the dying patient. That mix of humor and poignancy is what has made Scrubs great in the past.
Nip/Tuck was also back last week, but come on, is anyone still watching this show? It went over the edge loooooong ago. Have they tried a head transplant yet? If not, they I predict one this season.
Last Wednesday saw the Season 2 premiere of Damages. Sure, Season 1 took ridiculous twists and turns, but it has arguably the best cast on television (Emmys for Glen Close and Zelko Ivanek), especially now with the addition of Oscar-winners William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as well as Deadwood's top scowler, Timothy Oliphant. Throw in Rose Byrne and a career perfomance from Ted Danson and you've got magic. This season promises to be no less convoluted and suspenseful, and I'll be watching every minute.
Damages has a lot of company on Wednesdays though, with Top Scallop -- errr, Top Chef (sorry, Jamie, but Fabio hit that nail on the head) -- and Lost, which returns next week.
24 kicked off a the latest longest day of Jack Bauer's life last night, but I just can't do it. Sloppy writing, poor planning on story arcs and characters acting totally out of character ruined this show long ago. If this season turns out to be any good, I'll just catch up on the DVDs later.
The final season of Battlestar Galactica starts Friday night, with the human and Cylon survivors trying to make sense of the post-apocalyptic wasteland that was once called Earth. And who's the final Cylon? All will be revealed, they promise. And rumor has it the Final One will be revealed sooner rather than later.
Also coming Friday is Season 3 of Friday Night Lights on NBC, just as the season's original run on DirecTV ends. I'm watching Season 1 now on Netflix, and I'm loving this show. How I managed to miss it until now baffles me, but it's definitely worth watching
Season 2 of Flight of the Conchords begins Sunday, and New Zealand's fourth most-popular folk/comedy band will release new songs from the shows every Monday in iTunes. That'll be nice for when you have a song like "Hiphopapotamus vs. Rhymenocerous" stuck in your head. Sadly, this might be the Conchords' last season. Apparently it isn't easy to write an original musical comedy series. And -- say it ain't so! -- the first episode deals with the band firing their hapless manager, Murray.
In a departure from its usual summer airing, Burn Notice is back next Thursday. Breezy, action-packed and smart, this show really deserves a bigger audience. Hopefully the sight of tropical Miami will draw in some snowbound viewers.
There's also a handful of new reality shows, but I'll get to those in a future post. Stay tuned.
Read more!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Flipping Channels
Quick hits, thoughts and news . . .
•TNT premiers its newest show, Leverage, at 10 p.m. Sunday (it'll then move to its regular time of 10 p.m. Tuesdays). Timothy Hutton (the guy who had the crush on a waaaay-too-young Natalie Portman in Beautiful Girls) stars as the ringleader of an Ocean's 11-type crew of con men who only rip off bad guys who deserve it. Sounds good, huh? Actually it was good, the first time I saw it . . . when it was a BBC show called Hustle. Though it doesn't bill itself as such, Leverage is just another Americanized version of a cool British show. Hustle is a stylish, breezy, caper show — similar to Burn Notice —well worth checking out. All four seasons are available on DVD, and you can catch reruns occasionally on AMC. It's almost certainly better than Leverage, and they speak with way cooler accents.
•The demise of Pushing Daisies may be good news for Heroes. But is it already too late? Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller is on the verge of signing a deal to return as an executive producer for Heroes, which he worked on in its brilliant first season. His return won't do much for the current season, which is already mostly written. But maybe he can help next season not suck so badly. The quickly sinking Heroes has already fired two co-executive producers this season, and it was only a month ago that Heroes creator Tim Kring called the show's remaining fans "saps and dipshits." It's not enough to draw back this sap, but the addition of Fuller sure can't make the show any worse.
•Sci Fi Channel this week green-lit 18 episodes of Caprica, a Battlestar Galactice prequel series. The two-hour pilot has been shot, and production on the season will start next summer. Look for the show sometime in 2010. And to quench your BSG thirst between the show's spring finale and Caprica, a standalone move called The Plan will be coming sometime in the interim. Modeled on last year's BSG standalone Razor, The Plan will focus on the Cylons' master plan and will take place between the series' first and second seasons. And starting Dec. 12, Scifi.com will roll out 12 webisodes leading up to BSG's premier on Jan. 16. Personal revelations regarding one character are promised.
•A pair of second-season premiere dates have been announced: The CW's the-devil-made-me-do-it-(no-for-real!) supernatural comedy Reaper will return on March 17, and HBO's Flight of the Conchords, following New Zealand's fourth-most popular comedy/folk band, is back Jan. 18. For a sneak peek at the entire Season 2 debut episode of Conchords, it'll be posted online at Funnyordie.com starting Dec. 17.
Read more!
•TNT premiers its newest show, Leverage, at 10 p.m. Sunday (it'll then move to its regular time of 10 p.m. Tuesdays). Timothy Hutton (the guy who had the crush on a waaaay-too-young Natalie Portman in Beautiful Girls) stars as the ringleader of an Ocean's 11-type crew of con men who only rip off bad guys who deserve it. Sounds good, huh? Actually it was good, the first time I saw it . . . when it was a BBC show called Hustle. Though it doesn't bill itself as such, Leverage is just another Americanized version of a cool British show. Hustle is a stylish, breezy, caper show — similar to Burn Notice —well worth checking out. All four seasons are available on DVD, and you can catch reruns occasionally on AMC. It's almost certainly better than Leverage, and they speak with way cooler accents.•The demise of Pushing Daisies may be good news for Heroes. But is it already too late? Pushing Daisies creator Bryan Fuller is on the verge of signing a deal to return as an executive producer for Heroes, which he worked on in its brilliant first season. His return won't do much for the current season, which is already mostly written. But maybe he can help next season not suck so badly. The quickly sinking Heroes has already fired two co-executive producers this season, and it was only a month ago that Heroes creator Tim Kring called the show's remaining fans "saps and dipshits." It's not enough to draw back this sap, but the addition of Fuller sure can't make the show any worse.
•Sci Fi Channel this week green-lit 18 episodes of Caprica, a Battlestar Galactice prequel series. The two-hour pilot has been shot, and production on the season will start next summer. Look for the show sometime in 2010. And to quench your BSG thirst between the show's spring finale and Caprica, a standalone move called The Plan will be coming sometime in the interim. Modeled on last year's BSG standalone Razor, The Plan will focus on the Cylons' master plan and will take place between the series' first and second seasons. And starting Dec. 12, Scifi.com will roll out 12 webisodes leading up to BSG's premier on Jan. 16. Personal revelations regarding one character are promised.
•A pair of second-season premiere dates have been announced: The CW's the-devil-made-me-do-it-(no-for-real!) supernatural comedy Reaper will return on March 17, and HBO's Flight of the Conchords, following New Zealand's fourth-most popular comedy/folk band, is back Jan. 18. For a sneak peek at the entire Season 2 debut episode of Conchords, it'll be posted online at Funnyordie.com starting Dec. 17.
Read more!
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