Monday Lookaround

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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Lost -- I'm not even going to try to figure it out

What it is about incomprehensibley complex shows that draws me to them? The only show on TV these days that's more dense and confusing than Battlestar Galactica is, of course, Lost. It returned for a fifth season last night with two hours of mind-bending shockers and baffling twists. I'm not smart enough to comprehend string theory or the quantum mechanics of time travel, so I long ago gave up trying to figure out what's going on. I'm on board till the end, and I'll just go where Lost's writers take me.

A few quick thoughts from last night:

• How come Faraday tells Sawyer he can't change time, yet he talks to Desmond and appears to do just that? But if Desmond has been travelling through time, that would explain his visions of Charlie dying. Maybe they happened in alternate realities.
  
• Who are the soldiers who want to hack off Juliette's hand? Widmore mercenaries maybe? But are they from the past, when the island was "his"? Or the future, when it's his again?
• Who was shooting the flaming arrows? The Duke boys? (No, that'd be dynamite arrows.) The island natives who built the 4-toed statue? Pirates?
• Come on, who couldn't see Frogurt's death coming? (And what a great nickname too! Kudos, Sawyer.) Any random castaway who speaks up is bound to die. And this particular redshirt was even wearing a red shirt! His flaming death was awesome. Oh, and if you thought Frogurt looked familiar, he was the dude in the original "Got Milk?" commercial, who couldn't answer the Aaron Burr trivia question because he was eating peanut butter. And there's your random piece of trivia for the day.
• So Mrs. Caffey -- errrr, Hawking -- the antique-store clerk who told Desmond his destiny way back when, if working with Ben. Looks like she's into physics too. Could she be Faraday's mother, the one future Faraday told past Desmond to find? And if Ben ever needs some muscle, will she just call her son Michael? (Oops, wrong series -- she also plays the tough-as-nails matriarch on Brotherhood.)
• What's the story with Sun? She was totally playing mindgames with Kate, blaming her -- without overtly blaming her -- for her husband's death. And her deal with Widmore -- is she going to be basically a double agent and blow Ben's plan out of the water? (Sorry Jin, no pun intended.) One of the writers let it slip in the recap show that Jin may be very much alive. I want to see where this plot line is headed.
• Dr. Candle/Chang has a baby on the island. Was the baby born there? Conceived there? Could the baby be Miles, and his birth on Spooky Island gave him some sort of ghost-sensing ability?
• Charlotte's bloody nose -- just like the worker Locke saw building his house. The one who said he's been dead for years. Are the nosebleeds from travelling in time?
• If there are all sorts of people jumping through time all around the island, could that explain the ghostly whispers the Losties have been hearing for the past few seasons? Like, the voices of the time travellers are close to, but not quite in, the same dimension as the Losties?
• Why didn't The Others time travel with the Lostaways? Are they somehow immune? Wouldn't time travel affect everyone and everything on the island? (Obviously not...)
  

Geez, didn't I say I was done trying to figure this show out? It just makes my head hurt.
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Mad Men update

Fear not, Mad Men fans, series creator Matt Weiner has been re-signed to a two-year deal with AMC. There had been concern when the third season was announced in October with Weiner's status in limbo, and salary negotiations were said to be contentious. But the Emmy-winning show lives and dies with Weiner and AMC apparently realized it couldn't continue without him. Season 3 is on track to premiere next summer -- July, in fact -- with a fourth season likely the following summer.

Speaking of Mad Men, series star Jon Hamm will make a guest appearance on an upcoming story arc of 30 Rock as Liz Lemon's new love interest. I'm concerned -- such a convergence of favorite actors could very well make my girlfriend's head explode.
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It's like the West Wing. Only real.

What are you doing reading a TV blog now? Don't be an idiot, go watch the inauguration!
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The Monday Look Around

Here's the start of a (hopefully) regular feature, the Monday Look Around. It's a look back at TV's best and worst of the past week, and a look ahead at what's to come.

Highlights
1. Battlestar Galactica. The first of the final 10 episodes was a true stunner. Bleak and unrelenting, with shocking series-changing revelations, it wasn't particularly fun to watch, but it was powerful and dramatic television, a truly great show at its best. While answering some crucial questions, it opened up even more.

2. Damages. Another of television's best dramas, and the intrigue kicked into gear last week. Did Purcell kill his wife? Why is Patty so obsessed with helping him? Who does Ellen shoot (or shoot at)? Why is Wes so helpful to Ellen, and why does he have a cabinet full of guns and Frobisher photos? Can Claire Maddox take down Patty Hewes? And whose side is she on? And how are she and Purcell connected? It's enough to make your head spin, in the best way possible.

3. The Office. Biggest laughs of the week. From Michael racing next to the roadside speed indicator, to the office trying to keep the lid on a secret (Kevin to Angela: "I'm sorry I did such a whorish job filling out this form."), to the inevitable Andy-Dwight showdown, I think this was The Office's best all-around episode of the year.

Lowlights
1. VH1. Looking for a trainwreck of a show? Look to VH1. "Pathetic" pretty much sums up their programming: pathetic Barbie-doll women throwing themselves at pathetic former rock star Bret Michaels on Rock of Love Bus, pathetic former "teen idols" (really? I never heard of most of those guys) desperate to recapture a glimmer of fame on Confessions of a Teen Idol, pathetic guys called out for the tools that are on Tool Academy . . . enough awful shows that Celebrity Rehab and Sober House seem classy in comparison. Of course, the awfulness of these shows doesn't necessarily stop me from watching.

2. Top Chef. I had real problems with last week's episode, "Down on the Farm." The Quickfire challenge was terrible. I watch this show to see talented chefs compete at a high level, not dinker around with canned peas and Chef Boyardee. This season has had more than its usual share of contrived cooking challenges, and it's coming dangerously close to ruining the show's credibility. I was also upset that Arianne was sent packing. Granted, her lamb was bad, but the tying -- which seemed to make the judges most upset -- was done by Leah, who really didn't contribute anything useful to the meal, and deflected all blame come judging. She should have been gone, and I hope she doesn't last much longer.

3. 30 Rock. It fell flat. I love this show, and maybe that's why my expectations are so high, but for the first time in a long time, it didn't crack me up. Every show has its bumps, and hopefully this was just one of those. I won't hold a grudge.

Looking Forward to . . .
1. Lost. Two-hour season premiere Wednesday. Where/when did that island go?!? Can't . . . freakin . . . wait.

2. Burn Notice. Returns Thursday to USA. It'll be a good dose of fun hijinks and pretty explosions in an otherwise very serious, highly dramatic TV season.

3. Top Chef. It's time for Restaurant Wars this Wednesday, consistently one of the best episodes of each season.
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BSG spoiler-fest

So Battlestar Galactica kicked off its final season Friday with a series of shockers that I'm still trying to wrap my head around. This may have been the bleakest, most depressing episode ever. I'm going to start talking about spoilers, so if you haven't watched, beware. If you have, then. . .

Where to begin? The missing 13th colony was Cylon. Starbuck discovers her own corpse. Dee blows her brains out. And Ellen in the final Cylon.

Let's start with the 13th colony. They were Cylons. Holy crap. So are humans and Cylons really the same? But Cylons can't reproduce. They had to be created, but by whom? And who nuked Earth? Was Earth populated by Cylons before the 13th colony arrived, and some kind of Cylon civil war broke out? Or did Cylons and humans come into contact with each other and blew each other up? Remember, "it's all happened before and it will happen again." So, so, so many questions. And I have no clue. Here's one theory: The humans nuked Earth and killed all the Cylons, and the Cylon attack on the 12 colonies was their revenge.

Who/what is Starbuck? The signal from the rescue beacon brought Starbuck to her own crashed Viper, with her charred corpse inside, a development that freaked out even the ever-creepy Leoben. So how is Starbuck still alive? Is she a Cylon? Not unless she's a heretofore-unknown 13th model (oooooh, the missing 13th colony, and unknown 13th Cylon . . . . that could be interesting). Was she cloned? That's my guess. But by who? Cylons? Remember when she was held captive on Caprica, the Cylons did something to her in that baby factory -- removed eggs? Got a nice DNA sample? Hmmmmm. Then there's the whole prophecy -- "Kara Thrace will lead the human race to its end. She is the herald of the Apocalypse, the harbinger of death." Did she bring about the destruction of Earth? Her body seemed too fresh for that. Will she bring about the end of humans? Or Cylons? Or is she some kind of human-Cylon hybrid, the first of a new race that marks the end of both humanity AND Cylons as separate species?

Poor Dee. Her suicide was one of the biggest shocks for me, and one of the saddest moments of the series. Her character was never particularly interesting, but she had eyes that could melt you, and yeah, I'm that shallow. Her death came seemingly out of nowhere, after a perfect date with ex-hubby Apollo. But really, it spoke to the utter despair felt by the survivors in the fleet. Putting all their hopes in finding the refuge that is Earth, and then finding that dream shattered must have been devastating. And what better way to illustrate that than by one of the seemingly most level-headed officers finally giving up? For once, a plot device that was understandable, though heartbreaking.

And Ellen Tigh is the final Cylon. Wow, I did not see that coming. I have to say, I'm a little underwhelmed. Her character was never fully fleshed out, and I wish we knew more about her. Her Wikipedia entry has a pretty good summary of what we know though, including lots of stuff I had forgotten about. And there were clues all along that she might have been a Cylon. I suppose I was expecting someone more shocking -- Roslin, Adama, Starbuck. But this makes a little more sense. There's been a lot of online chatter about Ellen and Saul's relationship being an epic, eternal romance, but I'm not quite buying that yet. They always seemed horribly dysfunctional, and she had slept with half the fleet. He killed her, for gods' sake! Whether it offeres a ray of hope or not, if that's the greatest romance in the galaxy, then we're all in trouble.

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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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