So busy

I don't mean to derail the True Blood momentum - and, in fact, I have watched the next two episodes and will get to recapping them soonish - but there's some other stuff I've read and watched recently that is pretty damn good.  (And, frankly, when compared to True Blood, very damn good.)  Take a gander and let me know if you've partaken of any of these.

• Black Mirror - A satirical British science fiction anthology series from the mind of Charlie Booker, Black Mirror is a dark and twisted treat.  Each episode - and there are only a few - has a different story and a different cast, and all of them involve technology that is not that far away from us right now.  As an X-Files, Fringe and Twilight Zone fan, as well as a fan of dystopian fiction, it's like this show was made for me.  It's got a great cast too, which made it great fun to recognize people (from Sense8, Agent Carter and the U.K. version of Skins, among others).  
• Howl's Moving Castle - I read the book.  I don't think I even realized there was a book and thought it was just the acclaimed Miyazaki animated movie.  But no, it was a book first, by British author Diana Wynne Jones.  It's a lightweight YA fantasy novel about Sophie, the eldest of three sisters and, in the world of fairy tales, thus doomed to a boring and unfulfilled life.  When Sophie inadvertently pisses off the Witch of the Waste, the Witch turns her into an old woman.  Her only chance at breaking the spell is the Wizard Howl, he of the titular moving castle.  Sophie insinuates herself into Howl's household and then the adventures begin.  Howl's Moving Castle is stuffed full of fire demons, jilted lovers, fancy outfits, animated scarecrows and plain old magic.  I got sucked in against my will and now I'm just going to have to move the movie up to the top of my Netflix queue.
• Doctor Who - It wasn't as though I was actively resisting Doctor Who, I just figured that I needed a chunk of time to watch a bunch of episodes in a row to really gain appreciation for it.  Everything I have read said that the 2005 revival, with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, is a good place to start - that those of us new Whovians don't really need to delve into the classic episodes.  I'm almost all the way through the series (I understand that Eccleston only played the Doctor for the one series) and I'm really quite liking it.  It has some fairly scary monsters for such a silly show (the Dalek, the Empty Child zombies, the Autons).  I have a big ol' girl crush on Bille Piper, who plays the Doctor's companion, Rose.  And Eccleston does a very nice job with the Doctor: he's got some darkness to him, this incarnation.  Good fun.  I'm anxious to finish out this series and see what fan-favorite David Tennant does with it.
• The Revolution was Televised  - This non-fiction book by Alan Sepinwall covers the shows that changed television into the amazing landscape that we now know it to be.  Sepinwall discusses in detail the following shows, which include several of my all-time favorites:  Oz (which I now have to watch), The Sopranos, The Wire (which I definitely have to watch), Deadwood (love love love), The Shield, LOST, Buffy the Vampire Slayers (!!!!!!!!!), 24, Battlestar Galactica (love love love), Friday Night Lights (love), Mad Men (it's on my list) and Breaking Bad (love love love).  Those are some seriously excellent shows right there.  The Revolution was Televised is easy to read, packed with information and interview tidbits and just fascinating to any of us who love good television.  Highly recommended.
• Mr. Robot - I also watched USA's Mr. Robot which is just great.  Rami Malek, as main guy Elliott Alderson, is phenomenal as the brilliant, damaged untrustworthy narrator.  The plot moves along quickly - a hacker group, fSociety, is looking to take down the largest corporation (Evil Corp) in the world, thus fomenting chaos - but it's the character beats that are the most compelling.  Great stuff and a wonderful change of pace from USA's usual blue sky programming.

Wherefore art thou Warehouse 13?

I'm not exactly sure that the paraphrase in the post title works, but then again I'm not exactly sure that Warehouse 13 actually works either. I've seen the two hour pilot and I liked it more at the end than I did at the beginning, so I guess that's something.

Warehouse 13 is one of the SciFi *grrrrrrr* SyFy Channel's new series. It focuses on two Secret Service agents, Pete Lattimer and Myka Barry (?), who have been reassigned from President-protecting duty to a ginormous warehouse in the middle of Nowhere, South Dakota. In this warehouse are oodles of artifacts that have some sort of power, mostly un-understood by modern man. So the Warehouse folks roam the planet, tracking, neutralizing and collecting these artifacts, and then bringing them back to SD for safekeeping/storage.

Warehouse 13 is being marketed as a much "lighter" show, more Eureka than BSG. Reviewers are comparing it to a blend of The X-Files with Indiana Jones as the two leads are male/believer and female/skeptic, plus all powerful and mysterious artifacts. W13 seems to have a little difficulty with pacing (the pilot's climatic scene took waaaaaaaaaaay too long) and getting the comedy/drama blend just right, something I expect will get better as the series progresses. There was a self-immolation that was definitely not funny, but the bit with an Aladdin's lamp that gives you a ferret when you wish for something impossible - that was good.

I'm going to keep it on my DVR list for now as (1) the previews for upcoming episodes look good (Six makes an appearance!) and (2) there just really isn't much else decent to watch right now. Did any of you give ol' Warehouse 13 a try too? What did you think of it?

Virtuality vs. Caprica

It was by mere coincidence that I watched BSG prequel-pilot Caprica (on DVD) the day before I watched Fox's t.v. movie/possibly pilot Virtuality (on DVR), although I think I'm glad I did. I had very different reactions to the two shows but, if nothing else it proves that Ron Moore (heavily involved in both shows in various capacities) is a true gift to television. Which we all knew already.

Note: SPOILERS throughout, so don't read if you don't want to know.

Caprica will return in the fall to the SciFi (or *ugh* "SyFy") channel and continue to tell the story of the rise of the Cylons, and how events were set in motion for the Fall and the whole BSG saga. This is not a space drama like its predecessor, but is set on-planet, following the Greystones and the Adamas. All BSG fans know that Joseph Adama, played rather mumblingly by Esai Morales, is the father of Admiral William Adama (young William gets some screentime in this episode and hopefully will have had some acting lessons by the time he gets some more): he is a lawyer with deep mob connections who struggles with the line between good and evil, right and wrong. Eric Stoltz is Daniel Greystone, genius computer millionaire who invented holoband technology - virtual reality - and who is developing cybernetic warriors for the military.

Joseph and Daniel are thrown into each others' lives when Joseph's wife and daughter are killed in the same terrorist explosion that claims Daniel's daughter Zoe. Zoe was a computer genius in her own right and was adapting her father's virtual reality technology to create an avatar of herself, but imbued with self-perpetuating personality - a soul, if you will - in some means of supporting the newly-rising underground monotheism movement. After Zoe's death, her father finds her computer code and attempts to download her avatar into a proto-Cylon. He think he fails - but the last scene shows the robot awakening to self-realization.

I liked: the crazed scenes in the virtual nightclub where Zoe and her friends were carrying out their master plan; the conceit that a girl named "Zoe" (Greek for "life") is the progenitor of the sentient monotheistic Number-Model Cylons; Paula Malcolmson ("Trixie" from Deadwood) as Zoe's mom; the scene with Adama and his avatar-daughter. What I didn't like: Caprica left me cold and unconnected to the characters. BSG captured my heart from the very first moment; Caprica is going to have to grow on me.

Not so with Virtuality. After only two hours, I'm hooked and am totally annoyed that there's a possibility that it might not get picked up and two hours is all there may be. It's a complicated, interesting show, with a terrific cast and twists galore.

There are twelve astronauts on the Phaeton, embarking upon a ten-year mission to explore another solar system. We have the captain (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, whom I crushed on in the departed New Amsterdam), his second in command, the pilot (Clea DuVall), a doctor, a shrink and a botanist (married), a computer whiz and five other scientists (including another married couple and a gay couple). That's the basic show.

The mission is also being entirely filmed as reality television for the folks back home on Earth, complete with confessional interviews. In an odd sort of double duty, the shrink (James D'Arcy) is also the reality show's producer, and he seems to be uniquely able to manipulate the crew for better ratings. The company funding the mission, ominously referred to as "the Consortium," calls the shots and the captain feels that the shrink may not be telling the crew everything.

Finally, to maintain the crew's mental health on such a long journey, virtual reality modules have been implemented so that the astronauts can relax, blow off steam, interact with something other than the other crewmembers. We see several of the crewmembers' virtual fantasies: the captain's Civil War re-enactment; the computer genius's rockstar/superspy adventures (a la Alias); the pilot's bicycle rides. There is a computer glitch, however, which is not so good for folks' mental health: several of the crew members discover a mystery man in their virtual fantasies - someone whom they did not program in, and who attacks them violently and virtually, to differing results.

I thought Virtuality was fantastic. Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) is the director and the show is just gorgeous. There are a lot of characters involved and although some do not get much screen time, we are given enough to connect with them, making them more than caricatures. I loved the layers upon layers: the virtual modules seem real, and the memories they create are real; the reality show is as unreal as any reality t.v. on today, edited together by the shrink for maximum ratings; and it is called into question as to whether the actual mission the astronauts are on is even real itself - or have they been put into a Truman Show-like situation? I've watched enough television to know that at least one person would be killed off but I couldn't believe who it was when it happened - if this show gets picked up, I hope if they can find a way to keep the actor on.

I really would like to see Virtuality get picked up. It looks like it's an expensive show to make with the huge cast and all the beautiful space shots, so that's a strike against it. It's also an intelligent, tricky, makes-you-think thriller ... so that's probably a strike against it too. Caprica we know is coming back, and I'm just not sure that it's appointment television for me like Battlestar Galactica was, but Virtuality I would absolutely make a point of watching. Here's hoping I get the chance.

Gentlemen, start your DVRs - Part Deux

Welcome back, faithful reader! Have you had enough sugarplums and latkes to tide you over ‘til next year? I’m sorry to report that I got neither books nor DVDs for Xmas nor got to the movie theater, so I don’t have any new reviews or recaps for you. Bad blogger, bad! Pluswhich I have found that there’s not enough eggnog in the world to compensate for the absolute dearth of quality television on right now (thank goodness for USA’s House marathon this last weekend –I don’t even watch that show ever but I’ve been in such a cranky mood that I really identified with the misanthropic main character).

What I do have is a rundown of the new and returning television shows that I’m excited about and hopefully you are too. While I am mourning the loss of Pushing Daisies, and True Blood is gone ‘til next time, there are still a few bright spots on the horizon:

• Scrubs – returning 1/6/09 (Tues) on ABC, 9 PM. I think this show has jumped the shark but may have occasional sparks of funny.
• My Name Is Earl – returning 1/8/09 (Thurs) on NBC at 9 PM.
• How I Met Your Mother – returning 1/12/09 (Mon) on CBS at 8:30 PM.
• Battlestar Galactica – returning 1/16/09 on SciFi (Fri) at 10 PM. BSG is back – yay! Last season – boo!
• Fringe – returning 1/20/09 (Tues) on Fox at 9 PM. I’m going to stick with this one for the time being but if I have to cut back on recaps, it’ll be the first to go - consider yourselves warned.
• Lost – returning 1/21/09 (Wed) on ABC at 9 PM. Where (when) did that Island go? And do you think Jack will shave this season?
• Burn Notice – returning 1/22/09 (Thurs) on USA at 10 PM. More Bruce Campbell and less Gabrielle Anwar, please.
• Heroes – returning 2/2/09 (Mon) on NBC at 9 PM. The only good thing about the cancellation of Pushing Daisies is that maybe Bryan Fuller can fix Heroes.
• Dollhouse – new/midseason replacement, starting 2/13/09 (Fri) on Fox. Joss Whedon bravely returns to television. Everyone please watch.
• Castle – new/midseason replacement, starting 3/9/09 (Mon) on ABC. Nathan Fillion (!!) stars (!) as a mystery novelist who helps cops solve crimes that seem to be based on his books.
• Harper’s Island – new/midseason replacement, starting 4/9/09 (Thurs) on CBS. I don’t know much about this one except this blurb from Television Without Pity: “A family travels to an island for a wedding, but there's a murderer among them.” Supposedly a wedding party member gets killed off each week as they try to solve the mystery. We’ll see.

Did you know ...

I saw some great t-shirts today: Kick Like a Girl (soccer), Ride Like a Girl (equestrian), You Wish You Could Ski Like a Girl (obvious). They're by a Maine company, Be A Girl Today, and the online store has t-shirts, bumper stickers, bags, etc. Hip colors and unfussy graphics. Good stuff.

Although poor, brilliant, gorgeous Pushing Daisies is gone, we have Lost (Jan 21), Battlestar Galactica (Jan 16) and Dollhouse (Feb 13) to look forward to. A little shirtless Jamie Bamber will go a long way to comforting me in my PD grief.

The splendiferously extra'ed Dr. Horrible DVD is for sale exclusively on Amazon. The commentary is sung, y'all - it's a musical within a musical. If Mr. Mouse hasn't gotten it for me for Christmas, you just know I'm buying it myself on 12/26. (You can get it yourselves using that little Amazon box over there to the right.)

And finally for today: Rumor has it that a live action Cowboy Bebop movie is being developed. And rumor also has it that Keanu Reeves wants to play Spike Spiegel. To which I say: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! And to which Friend of the Blog Kevin C. says:

Keanu Reeves as Spike??? It…would….be….awful…dude... Keanu together again with Sandra Bullock as Faye? Sarah Jessica Parker as Julia? Wishbone as Ein?

Heh: Sarah Jessica Parker as Julia. That's excellent. While we're at it, maybe Jack Black as Jet? Ugh. The horror. I have to go listen to the outstanding series soundtrack now and calm down.

This just proves I have fantastic taste

Have you all seen this list: Pajiba's "Best 20 Seasons of the Past 20 Years"? [Ed. note: technically the question mark should be inside the end quotes - I know this - but the title of the list is not in fact a question and I didn't want to confuse the hoi polloi.]

Of the twenty television series on this alphabetically listed list, I adore (and have gone on at some length about my adoration of same) numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 17 and 20. That's half of them. I have watched in some seriousness (but was never completely smitten with) numbers 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18. And I have 5 and 15 sitting in my DVD queue. The only two shows on the list that I have no connection with whatsoever are the Larry Sanders Show (#9) and Murder One (#10) - apparently I should check these out.

I'm going to take this as yet another sign that I prefer to watch the good stuff ... and should keep writing about it.

Burn Notice - S2E1 recap

So this is my stab at a Burn Notice recap. For those of you (like me) who never watched any of this before, here is a summary of the entire first season. Before we get into it, a couple of business items. This show is generally about a spy, Michael Westen (played by Jeffrey Donovan (cute but skinny and seems as though he’s had too much Botox), who as he was on the verge of getting out of the spy business was purposely outed by (a/k/a the burn notice) some agency and now instead of retiring gracefully into regular life is being hunted down by cops/government/other spies/whatever. Michael wants to find out who burned him and, along the way, seems to solve cases of the week with his buddy/possible double-agent “Sam,” charmingly played by Bruce Campbell. Gabrielle Anwar (“Fiona” or “Fi”) plays the love interest: I’m not sure how old she is exactly [Ed.: Um, crap - about exactly one month younger than me ... shit.], but I’m certain that it’s old enough to be wearing slightly bigger clothes; also, she desperately needs a haircut and a hot oil treatment. There’s a lot of rapid editing and freeze-framing and random shots of Florida scenery that I found annoying in a pointless filler kind of way. And, finally, as Michael closes in on the possible agency that burned him, a mystery woman starts contacting him and calling the shots … the mystery woman is played by Tricia Helfer and I’m just going to refer to her as “Six” because I love BSG.

At the end of last season, Michael drives into a cargo container that is supposed to take him to meet the people who burned him. Now he loads his gun (not a euphemism) while he waits in the container, getting nervous as he hears gunfire and explosions outside. His phone rings: it’s Six, calling herself “Carla” and telling Michael to come on out. When he emerges, there’s a small plane burning, a dead pilot on the ground and one live guy trying to crawl away. Six wants this live guy brought back to Miami. Michael says, “I do this, then we meet.” She agrees; he loads the guy (“Jimmy”) into the trunk of his car and drives off just ahead of the cops who are concerned about the recent explosions.

Michael lets Jimmy out of the trunk and Jimmy explains that he was hired by Six to steal some computer files from a “security firm” (or shady bunch of mercenaries) but got cold feet and tried to bail. So Six kidnapped Jimmy’s wife and kids to get him to fulfill his part of the deal. Michael says he’ll help because it’ll get him closer to Six and the people she works with. They go to Michael’s apartment/hideout where Bruce Campbell is hanging out, drinking beer and being sarcastic. Soon, Fi shows up and Michael’s mom (Sharon Gless – was she Cagney or Lacey?) calls to check in on him, having recently learned that her oldest son is a spy. Let me just say right now that these two women in Michael’s life are extremely grating and annoying –just assume that is the case whenever I mention them.

Jimmy takes Michael to the security firm where Michael poses as a client looking to protect his mining interests in South Africa. He’s working some sort of British-y or Australian-y or South African-y accent that seems to shift a bit. He meets with the head of the firm, a scary man called Ryder Stahl; Ryder is suspicious of Michael’s intentions because his own surveillance has located Fi and Bruce Campbell doing surveillance from a nearby parking garage. Michael has to go with some of Ryder’s men to the garage and engages his team in some pseudo-gunplay to save his cover. The ruse works and Ryder takes Michael on as a client.

Later, when Michael visits his mom he finds a cell phone in the car. Six is on the other end of the phone and she urges Michael to hurry things up with the heist on Ryder’s company. She puts Jimmy’s daughter on the line as incentive. So undercover Michael goes back to Ryder’s company and finagles a tour of the offices so that he can reconstruct the floor plan and security layout when he gets back to his apartment. Fi shows up and wants to talk about their relationship but Michael recruits her for the heist instead. Michael calls Six to tell her that the plan is shaping up but he wants some of the guns that were used at the beginning of the episode to blow up the little plane and murder the pilot. Also, he tells her that he wants Jimmy’s family delivered when and where he says after the job is done. She agrees pleasantly.

Michael and Jimmy infiltrate the offices above Ryder’s company on some bogus construction excuse and, with Michael’s in-depth voice-over, cut through the floor into the security firm below. Blah blah blah – they MacGyver their way through the offices and hack into the computer banks while Bruce Campbell and Fi yammer at each other on their stakeout – blah blah blah. While Michael and Jimmy are downloading the files, Ryder shows up at his firm and an alarm goes off just as the download is complete. So Michael shoots the hell out of the computers before he and Jimmy rappel down the building to Bruce Campbell and Fi’s car. Ryder sees them go.

Back at Michael’s apartment, Jimmy worries about Ryder coming after him. Michael is hoping this happens and asks Bruce Campbell to get them a boat so they can fake Jimmy’s death. Fi calls to say that someone left some big guns in her car and Michael is pleased about that too. After some boring stuff with Michael’s mother, they go to a marina and Fi rigs the boat to explode. Jimmy calls Ryder and says he wants to meet him as Michael coaches from the sidelines (Jimmy is not good at spy stuff). When Ryder and his mercenaries show up and approach the decoy boat, Fi sneaks the guns into Ryder’s truck – ooh, clever! They’re going to frame Ryder for the explosions and murder from before! The ATF shows up as Ryder walks to the decoy boat and Michael blows it to teeny pieces. ATF collects Ryder and his men while a hidden Michael and Jimmy watch, giggling; ATF also collects those hot guns.

Michael has arranged for Jimmy to meet his family in Argentina; Jimmy is grateful and gives Michael his Saab convertible (Burn Notice brought to you by Saab). Later, Michael and Fi look at the data they stole from Ryder for Six – but can’t figure out why she wants it. They finally talk about their relationship and Fi breaks up with him. You know, it would be more compelling if these two had any chemistry whatsoever.

After the X-Files movie trailer, there is Six in all her glory: doing a crossword puzzle in a café and flirting with an oblivious Bruce Campbell. She waves to Bruce as she gets in a cab. Michael’s phone rings: it’s her and he gets a little snippy with her because she was supposed to meet with him after the heist. “But we did meet,” she says, “Tell [Bruce Campbell] thanks for the help with the crossword.” Michael dashes for the street but she’s already gone – ‘til next week!

This was okay. I’ll probably watch it at least once more but I’m not convinced I’ll recap it again. It’s fine, compared to what else is on now, but it isn’t earth-shaking television.

Where has all the television gone?

My apologies, I'm clearly at a loss without Lost. CSI:Las Vegas starts back up Thursday, as does My Name Is Earl; The Office is back next week - none of which I recap. I've been watching New Amsterdam still although it's faltering a little after its initial promise and I'm not sure it'll be strong enough for renewal. Torchwood is continuing to entertain and delight: last Saturday's episode had lifeforce-stealing carnival ghosts who escaped from the old black and white movie celluloid in which they'd been trapped - did X-Files ever do one like that?!

Most exciting pop-culture thing of late: an official site and "poster" for Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Here's the fan site where they're just all giddy about it (even more than I).

Finally, Blockbuster.com has been shipping me Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica - o frabjous day! I would love to recap BSG but it's just so dense that each recap would be a mile long. Instead, I highly recommend that you rent, borrow or buy the DVDs, beginning with the SciFi Channel's miniseries and then straight on through Seasons 1, 2 and 3. Incredible, wonderful stuff. And - hee hee! - at the start of Season 3, they've buried the pretty face of Jamie Bamber under a ton of obesity prosthetic: Apollo's fat!

Vindication is mine!

Thanks to Whedonesque for giving me the heads-up about this list: Empire Online's 50 Greatest Television Shows of All Time. I will grant you that this list seems to have been compiled by British sci-fi fanboys (Deep Space Nine but no NYPD Blue? Come on!) but if you take the list completely out of context and just as is, it justifies my taste in television. I present as evidence the following:

#2 (of all time, mind you) is my beloved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, right behind The Simpsons

#5 is Lost

#9 is The X-Files

#13 is the fabulous new Battlestar Galactica (which I'll recap when I have a spare decade)

#14 is Firefly - "... it had Nathan Fillion, whose presence officially makes anything 27% better."

#15 is Heroes

#21 is Angel (it seems as though some Whedon-fans compiled this list, no?)

#31 is Deadwood - "The word fuck and its derivatives are used 2,980 times throughout the show's three seasons." That's an average of 82.7 times per episode. Hee.

#48 is Veronica Mars

Fall television report card update

I should probably wait to do this post until the networks completely run out of new episodes due to the Writers' strike but since they're going to run out any minute now, I figure what the heck. Way back in the beginning of September I outlined my hopes and dreams for the fall 2007 television season. In this post, a little bit later, I gave Pushing Daisies an A, Chuck a B+, Reaper a B-, Bionic Woman a C and Moonlight a D+. Now it's three months later, the end of new television episodes is looming large and I'm superthankful that I have a Blockbuster Online queue with 300+ DVDs in it.

Shows that I have long since broken up with: Reaper - even the great Ray Wise cannot overcome a boring relationship storyline that insists on pushing itself to the forefront. Moonlight - I tried one more ep recently and yup, it's still awful. Bionic Woman - Katee Sackhoff left BSG for this dreck? Her agent should be beaten. Desperate Housewives - there's not nearly enough Nathan Fillion to make me want to suffer through Susan and Gabi's bullshit.

Shows that are in the doghouse: CSI/Las Vegas - we're still (stubbornly) watching and are hoping that dreary Sarah Sidle's departure will put the spring back in their step. More Warrick! More Brass! Better crimes!

Shows that I am faithful to: Chuck - it's continuing to get better but there should be even more Adam Baldwin. Friday Night Lights - I think they made a mistake in cutting most of the football and replacing it with that stupid Landry-kills-a-guy-for-Tyra storyline; on the plus side, I can't decide if I want Coach Taylor to be my father or my husband (thanks to Anna B. for the paraphrase there). The Office - I prefer the half-hours to the full-hours and the last new episode was depressing as hell (Michael Scott getting grilled by the Dunder Mifflin lawyers about his relationship with Jan) but this show continues to be generally brilliant and so, so funny.

I heart these shows: Heroes - I know, this sophomore season limped along early on but I think Tim Kring has listened to the ranting of the fans and is (or was or will be when the strike is resolved) changing things ... the episode last week was as good as anything last season. [Note: we've had houseguests tonight so I haven't seen tonight's episode yet; recap will be up tomorrow night - sorry!]. Dexter - again, this season lagged a bit at the start but has been building steam nicely. Plus, Dexter's sister is sleeping with Wild Bill Hickok! Torchwood - a couple of the episodes were just cheesy beyond belief, even for a Dr. Who spin-off, but this is generally good sci-fi stuff, including better sex than on most American shows and what was the scariest television episode I've seen since "Home" (X-Files). Pushing Daisies - this has got to be the darling of the fall. Vivid, funny, twisted and clever, it just keeps getting better and better. I love Kristin Chenoweth!

Shows I am waiting (and waiting and waiting) for: Battlestar Galactica - I've got the recent Razor miniseries sitting in the DVR but I don't understand why the third season isn't out on DVD yet. Very frustrating. Lost - I am continuing to be hopeful here but Mr. Mouse is on the verge of giving up (he wants some answers). Plus, more Sayid/Hurley/Jin and less (much less) whiny Jack and Kate, please.

Bionic Woman, 2007 style - review

I just finished watching the premiere of Bionic Woman and I have to give it a resounding ... meh.

The baseline story is sort of the same: Jaime Sommers (this time a bartender, not an tennis player) is in an accident (car, not sky-diving), gets bionic legs, right arm and an ear. Because that's not quite enough, she also gets a new right eye, super-healing powers and a combat-training upgrade because it's a secret, slightly shady research lab who fixed her up, compliments of her slightly shady researcher-surgeon boyfriend. Who is 39 years old to her 24, which is slightly shady too. Blah blah blah - what have you done to me; blah blah blah - this is kind of neat being able to leap tall buildings at a single bound; blah blah blah - if you train me, maybe I'll help you with your secret agenda.

The best thing about this new BW is that Jaime Sommers is not the only one: Starbuck is the first woman they bionicked up and she is all kinds of badass. Wow - Katee Sackhoff is slammin' hot here and evil to boot. Unfortunately, I read somewhere that she is not going to be in that many episodes. That's too bad. Maybe they should have gone that route: making the story of the first and evil bionic woman the focus of the show.

Additional items of note: Good stuff - Badger is an evil genius scientist! Chief is a prison guard! And Miguel Ferrer is running the shady research facility. Bad stuff - The fight scenes are over-edited to the point that you can scarcely see what's going on. Pull back the camera already and let us watch!

I can't say that I'm giving up entirely on this show, but I don't think I'm going to add it to my DVR queue. If I catch an episode, that's fine (if Katee is there), but I'm not going to sweat it if I miss any.

Let's Talk Football

More specifically, let's talk about my concern for the future of one of the better new television shows from last season, Friday Night Lights. There was considerable worry about the fate of this little show at season's end last year but NBC stepped up and decided to bring it back for another season. Yay! FNL is one of the few regular network shows both Mr. Mouse and I can agree on.

Earlier this week, however, the producers of FNL let it be known that some changes are being made for season 2. There will be less football, for one, and more sex! babies! adultery! murder! These revisions are mostly to draw in more female viewers, ages 35-49.

Um, hello? Hi - I'd like to introduce myself as exactly your target audience. Yes, well, if I wanted all that stuff, I would watch Desperate Housewives or Grey's Anatomy. But, you see, I don't want that stuff, so I watch Friday Night Lights. I want to see Coach yelling at his boys to find their potential. I want to see his boys struggling in the wake of their championship last year. I want to see high school kids figuring out how to juggle dating, homework, family and sports in a largely believable manner - but with really pretty people and great dialogue. I actually wished there had been MORE football scenes last season - they were exciting and really well-done. I want to see Matt, Smash, Tim and Jason getting drunk and bonding on the field late at night. I definitely do not want to see Dillon, TX 90210 or The OC: Panther Style.

And I absolutely positively do not want to watch Rosie O'Donnell as a girls' soccer coach who butts heads with Coach because she's sick of football getting all the money and attention. This show does not need stunt casting, and it definitely doesn't need her. My stomach hurts just thinking about it.

P.S. And while I'm ranting about the ruination of my favorite t.v. shows, let me say this: I'm one episode shy of finishing Battlestar Galactica Season 2.5, and this half-season has been by far the weakest of the one and nearly two-halves I've seen. With the exception of Downloaded (2.18) and maybe The Captain's Hand (2.17), it's just not been as amazing as I've come to expect. Of course, this still means that it's better than pretty much everything else out there right now, so I guess they're still ahead of the curve. A main annoyance: I just don't buy the Apollo/Dualla relationship. Logan and Parker have more chemistry.