The new television season was in full-swing as I left the country, leaving me a little despondent about not seeing all the cool stuff that was coming up. Fortunately, I have a dual-tuner TiVo to record stuff while I'm gone, so all that's left to do is catch up on all the crap I missed.
Just in case nobody cares about my TV ramblings, I've put everything into an extended entry...
Veronica Mars. Just when you think that the show can't get any more incredible than the mind-blowing season finale, Rob Thomas & Co. come up with THIS brilliant season opener that sets the stage for even more incredible things to come. The writing is just phenomenal. Witty, engaging, sharp, and unlike anything else on television. So much to love... Veronica's new, even more perilous social status. The freaky twist to her love life. The interesting new take on Keith Mars' career. This is what television is supposed to be. I am horrified that ratings will undoubtedly plummet due to being up against the ever-escalating crap-fest that is Lost.
Lost. Arrrgh. I watched the season premiere and felt that it was a pretty pathetic opener with very little new information... now that I've seen the second episode, WHERE NOTHING HAPPENED AT ALL, I can pretty much confirm that this is the most overrated, piece of shit on television. I was actually fast-forwarding through most of it. So sad for something that had such astounding initial promise. Looks like it's going to be another long, drug-out season with too few ideas and not nearly enough interesting material to keep things moving (ooohhh... a shark! yawn!). COME ON PEOPLE! Wrap some of this shit up and move on to something NEW. You're boring the crap out of me. It's Alias all over again.
Alias. What was once my favorite show on television has degenerated into a pathetic shadow of its former self. The last two seasons were pretty much crap. The commercials are saying that this season will change everything, which certainly sounds promising... but I remain skeptical. The premiere was acceptable enough, but just doesn't push the envelope like the show used to. It's like everybody (writers included) are sleepwalking and not even trying to keep things interesting. If they think Vaughn's current "predicament" is going to push the show into new territories, they obviously don't understand what made the show work so well in the first place.
Boston Legal. The season opener is not really a season opener, since it merely picks up from when the show was preempted last season to make room for Grey's Anatomy, but it doesn't make it any less amazing. How often do you get Betty White and Heather Locklear in the same show? How often do you get Betty White saying the word "fornicating." Still an entertaining and somewhat naughty legal dramedy that makes David E. Kelley continue to be relevant. The cool bit here is that total babe Rhona Mitra, who left the show after last season, is still around since (technically) we're not through with the season yet. Delicious.
My Name is Earl. White trash comedy that is surprisingly clever thanks to smart writing and the impeccable comedic timing of Jason Lee. Has displaced Arrested Development as my favorite comedy after Scrubs. Impossible to define in traditional television terms, and must be watched to be appreciated.
House. This medical drama is finally starting to break out of the boring cycle that makes every episode the exact same. Unfortunately, it has run into some surprisingly stupid criticism as of late because of an innocent kiss given by a doctor to a dying girl. It was not sexual in nature, nor was it in any way explicit. And yet perverted dumbasses with overactive imaginations are making something out of nothing because they just love the morality spotlight. For this alone, I encourage everybody to watch (even though Grey's Anatomy is a far superior medical show).
Grey's Anatomy. It could be my infatuation with Sandra Oh, but I love this show. Smart, sexy, and funny as hell. Far better than ER ever was.
Kitchen Confidential. While I like Bradley Cooper's deft handling of a potentially unlikable character, the rest of the cast just isn't clicking with me. It's really too bad, because a comedy set in a kitchen has such ripe potential. I'll continue to watch, because it's just good enough to be entertaining, but hardly the gem I was hoping for.
How I Met Your Mother. It's not bad, it's just not good enough to be taking up space on my TiVo. A pity, because Neil Patrick Harris is pretty darn funny.
Survivor Guatemala. The cast is entirely too boring this time. I keep hoping that things will get interesting, but everybody seems so nondescript.
Las Vegas. I'm pretty upset that Marsha Thomason is leaving the show, but don't yet know if it's a deal-breaker... Lara Flynn Boyle is certainly not making up for the loss so far. I want to like this program, but it's quickly losing my interest.
Invasion. Of all the "invasion" shows out there (including Threshold and Surface) this is the one I loathe the least. That's not saying a lot, but the characters are growing on me.
Threshold. Quickly becoming a pathetic attempt to be interesting in an X-Files kind of way. There's no "wonder" here to keep me coming back, even though the cast is pretty great.
Surface. Utter crap. Hopefully will be cancelled very soon.
Everybody Hates Chris. Chris Rock rules, and so does this program. The kid they got to play young Chris is brilliant, and carries the show beautifully.
Ghost Whisperer. It's a Medium clone, but without the interesting characters and complex storylines! Kind of like a remedial Medium primer for people who like their entertainment as mindless and simple as possible. Bad television! Bad, BAD television!!
Medium. Engaging as ever. All the "supernatural" clones that followed its success just don't measure up (including Supernatural itself). I sometimes wonder how much further they can go with the concept, but the first two episodes of the second season show no sign of slowing down.
The Commander in Chief. What makes The West Wing so astounding (especially in the Sorkin years) is that the dry, boring political bits are made interesting because of the witty dialogue, quirky characters, and overall charm that permeates every scene. Strip all of that away, and you have Commander in Chief, which features Geena Davis as the first female President of the United States. Sure its smart, but even post-Sorkin episodes of The West Wing make for better entertainment than this. I'll give it a few more episodes before I cancel it off my TiVo, mainly because Geena Davis is so fascinating, but as a show it's not working for me.
The West Wing. The early Sorkin years are unparalleled in quality, and re-watching them on DVD makes me a bit sad to see how far the show has slid since those days. It's still worth watching... still smart television with terrific dialogue... but it's not the same program I fell in love with. Accepting it on those terms makes it watchable, but no longer must-see TV. Oh, one more thing... TOBY ZIEGLER SUCKS ASS! I LOATHE TOBY! KILL F#@%ING TOBY!! DIE TOBY! DIE DIE DIIIIIEEEE!!
Desperate Housewives. A guilty pleasure that I am embarrassed to watch, but can't stop. I nearly quit after the season ended, but then they brought Alfre Woodard into the cast and I was compelled to watch. Not worthy of the critical acclaim, but entertaining television nevertheless.
Night Stalker. Let me get this straight... Stuart Townsend as Kolchak?!? It's not working for me, and this is despite the fact that co-star Gabrielle Union is a total goddess. It seems absurd to think that this show can possibly succeed, so I'm performing a preemptive cancelation from my TiVo's "Season Pass."
Bleh. Still have about six TiVo hours left. By the time I catch up, it will be time to leave again.
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No way! House > Gray’s Anatomy!
Dave, do you sleep at all? lol Don’t know where I’d get the time to watch that many shows. I struggle to fit in Veronica Mars, Lost and a couple of Irish comedy programs.
Regarding Lost. Even though you scorn it the shark part was kind of interesting. Not for the cliche of being on a small raft with a shark waiting for you to fall in the water, more for the fact that the shark had a logo on it’s tail. The same logo we saw in the underground bunker.
I know the show goes slow but I’m going to stick with it.
WOW, this is an impressive commitment to television viewing.
Hear, hear, on the Veronica Mars premiere. Just fabulous. I got over Veronica not being with Logan in under a minute, and THAT’S impressive. Plus, I’m wondering if we’re about to get another ghost. Hmmm…
Lost… I can’t even talk about it, even though I’m still watching the damn thing.
I could go on… and on and on, but then I’d be like blogging on your blog. heh 🙂
I like House very much. However, they never seem to know what is wrong with the patient until near the end of the show. Would I want a doctor like that?
The oncologist is a hottie.
Troy, how in the hell did you manage to see a logo on the shark’s tail? You could barely see the shark.
A dual-tuner TiVo?!? Coolness. How’d you find one of those? I’m assuming it allows you to record shows from two different channels at the same time, right? That would rule my world right now as we have one TiVo and still employ a VCR for our stragglers.
I’m just having the worst trouble trying to watch new shows this season. My wife and I have been giving How I Met Your Mom a chance. Like you said, not great, but enjoyable. I watched one episode of Reunion and we just never bothered to nab it again. And, tonight, I’m finally remembering to TiVo My Name is Earl. We shall see.
Yes, the VM premiere was great. I knew you’d like it considering your obsession with the phrase “Veronica and Logan 4ever.” Be a bit of a kick in the pants.
But House is THE EXACT SAME EVERY EPISODE!! How can it be greater than Grey’s Anatomy which is always different?
Practically every episode of House goes like this…
And then repeat it all again next week. It’s fun for a while, but gets really predictable after a while. Grey’s Anatomy is always jerking you around with the unexpected, which I like much better.
TiVo makes watching so many shows easily. I can fast forward through the commercials and boring parts. In the case of Lost, this means there’s only about 10 minutes of actual viewing time.
The who shark incident is lame. I don’t care about the logo (which I had to rewind to see), because it’s JUST A SHARK!! What happened to mysterious monsters and polar bears? THAT was interesting… yet they toss it aside for a stupid genetically engineered shark? Big whoop! Is Walt psychic and creating the polar bear or not? Who knows! They just drag the answers on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on… until it’s to the point where I just don’t give a crap anymore.
WRAP IT UP AND GIVE US SOMETHING NEW DUMBASSES!! Given the evidence, I’d have to say the writers are just pulling this stuff out of their asses. Patrick found a quote that confirms it.
The Dual-Tuner TiVos have been discontinued because they don’t work with the latest TiVo “deluxe” options. We keep getting promises of new Dual-Tuner models, but nothing ever shows up.
Yet another example of TiVo f#@%ing over their customers.
Hopefully DirecTV will come out with their own model DVRs that have all the functions people want… but I’m not holding my breath. I guess it’s getting time to buy a couple of Mac Minis and make my own??
The Veronica premiere started okay, but then Veronica and Logan broke up and I was depressed. Then things got interesting again, and I was totally absorbed. hands-down the best show on television. Lost isn’t fit to lick Veronica Mars’ balls… errr… you know what I mean.
We have the sickness here, too, but we have TWO dual-tuner TiVos. One for the bedroom, one for the living room. It’s sad, really. But nice, because we can watch what we want, when we want…and zoom through the commercials. I have mad TiVo commercial-skipping skills now. My husband even lets me hold the TiVo remote sometimes because of this.
Great summation of “House”. But I still watch it. I want to see how the whole Vicodin addiction develops/resolves.
I don’t know how you find time to fit in all those shows. My TiVo is getting backed up so quickly lately and I can barely find time to keep up.
The only shows that are really “must see” for me are Veronica Mars and Arrested Development. They never sit for days on my Tivo waiting to be watched. I didn’t like the VM premiere as much as you did, but it’s still the best show on network TV. I thought the case of the false drug tests was the dumbest mystery of the week (MOTW) ever. I had to rewatch the ep to see if I was missing something but it just made no sense that those parents would form a corporation to take down some high school kids. WTF?
But aside from the MOTW, everything was pretty great. I’m sad that Logan continues to get beaten down (literally and figuratively) and sad that VM dumped him, but I’m excited about the new mystery and looking forward to seeing how it plays out. I am pretty optimistic about the season in general and I think this new mystery could be incredibly interesting and complicated. And VM and Logan 4ever. Hee. I know they’ll work things out eventually. He needs to grow up a lot first though. But seriously, nobody wants her to be with Donut for long (do they?).
It’s sad that VM gets such paltry ratings compared to Lost. I understand the appeal of Lost and all (I like it more than you do), but VM is just so original and creative and fantastic week after week and most of America apparently has no idea how to find UPN on their remote. It sucks that it can’t find a larger audience.
I also agree about the kiss on House. Much ado about nothing. I like the show but I don’t get excited about new eps like I do about VM. VM has spoiled me for everything else.
You forgot
6.5—House sends his staff to break into the patient’s house.
And 10—Cool music plays. :-p
I disagree with your rather harsh prognosis about the repetition, I think the originality of writing, and real sense of wit displayed is another reason to watch it. Plus Hugh Laurie at House is just genius. I have to remind myself he’s the same guy that starred in Blackadder. Whereas GA just seems to me to be another show about 20somethings and their struggles with life, etc etc, repeat ad nauseum.
At any rate, let’s agree to disagree. 😉
*hides ‘house4eva’ tattoo*
I watched last night’s My Name is Earl and it was enjoyable. Not great, but enough to keep me coming back. I do dig on Ethan Suplee as Earl’s brother.
I was also ticked about the second episode of Lost. How they thought they could get away with giving us the same crap but from a different point of view is just amazing to me. Someone needs to be shot because I love that show and hate the idea of it going downhill. I’m already on the verge of taking a one-year hiatus from all things CSI just to give myself a break from crime dramas. I’ll still watch Without a Trace and Numb3rs, though.
Man, my viewing is next to nothing compared to what it used to be.
Wow. and i thought MY tv schedule was packed. and I only have a VCR.
IT’S WEDNESDAY!!! Last week i downloaded Lost…i don’t think i will this week. I really don’t care anymore. It can totally lick Veronica’s…boots. yes.
Veronica Mars is a new-age series with humour, a stellar cast and a breakthrough performance by bell.I love this show even more than Simpsons. What once was good became crap and Simpsons has aged with no sign of improvement.Oh yeh and Kristen Bell is hot. 🙂