Pilot review: Moonlight

Voiceover again? Gee, what a surprise. Can't wait til they play "Young Folks".

Okay, so I was really hoping these vampires were going to be a little bit sexier than they turned out to be. Particularly Jason Dohring. Maybe he'll improve in the lecherous bloodthirstyness after a few more episodes.

Hearst College! Ha! That's funny. And quite a reference. Also, does Mick live in Logan Echols apartment? That would be great.

The prevalence of iPhones this season is...not that surprising I guess. I can add it to the list with "Young Folks" and voiceovers...oh, and LA. I can add that to the list too.

Sophia Myles is reminding me of Elisabeth Rohm. A lot. In a bad way. At least she has at least more than one emotion though. She's working maybe two. Also, it seems totally wrong and disturbing that he's in love with someone who was kidnapped to be his daughter and that he saved as a child. Very twisted.

This show does the same flashy in between scenes thing that Angel did. Also, same old car thing and same "ex-wife" issue. I'm betting Shannyn Sossamon is going to be more Drusilla than Darla though.

Yeah, so, that was not very good. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. It seems like combining Angel and Veronica Mars would've been a good thing. But I suppose that would've been Buffy. This one might get another shot next week based on subject matter and Jason Dohring. I haven't decided yet.

Pilot review: Dirty Sexy Money

Okay. This show would probably be great if I had a strong interest in a nighttime soap about adults. Actually, it was really pretty entertaining.

Donald Sutherland is very good. He's basically selling the whole premise as far as I'm concerned. Also, since he's the one that seems the most suspicious and therefore the least likely to have had Nick's dad killed, I'm guessing that he's the one that actually did it and now he's hired Nick to clean up the mess, counting on the fact that he's dumb and naive enough to not figure out what's really going on. Wait, or maybe Nick killed his own father. Or I have no idea.

("Young Folks" again? Wow. I kind of wish I'd watched every pilot this year so I could have an official count. As it stands now, just from the pilots I've watched, we're at three.)

I think Brian and Jeremy are probably my favorite of the children. Nick's wife is really pretty, but I don't want to have to watch their marriage fall apart. (I feel like I've said that somewhere else recently too.)

Basically, if I were going to keep watching this show, my reason would be to find out why Brian has hated Nick since they were little kids. Because his hatred seems totally irrational and really amusing. My guess is that it has to do with some of the kids not necessarily being the biological children of both Tripp and Letitia. Either that, or Nick is actually Tripp's son. Or something. I don't know. I'd watch this one if I had time, but other things rate higher on my list for various reasons.

One more thing though: Why does everything have to be narrated these days?

Pilot review: Big Shots

I'm very confused. There is absolutely nothing hot about the woman playing Michael Vartan's character's wife. Why do they keep talking about her like she is? This show blows. Also, it's boring. It's kind of a shame that Dylan McDermott's character is a complete tool. And in addition, it's really weird that they keep telling each other what it's like to be men. The only thing about this show that is reasonable is the idea that men this stupid can be so powerful. I'm pretty sure that's based in reality. But that's definitely the only thing.

You have got to be fucking kidding me?!?! "Young Folks" in this show too? Honestly, was that the only song released this year?

Okay, in this whole show, the most interesting character to me was Duncan's daughter. And even then, I would have preferred if she was played by Willa Holland. I kind of miss the OC.

Good to know I never need to watch that one again.

Dad doing surgery

Here's a link to a news piece in Cincinnati that shows my dad doing surgery. How does he manage to make the news in every city he moves to?

Party + Fight Strikes Again

This is a live one:
- First off, is it just me or are Dan and Jenny in an entirely different show than the other characters? They're like a weird slapstick routine when they're together.
- I like Chuck infinitely more than last week for three reasons. 1) His hair is now shorter and less greasy. 2) He mentioned his scarf as his signature which means that the show is already making fun of itself. 3) He apparently lives just like Logan Echols.
- I do not like Nate's weird new hair.
- Wait a second. Why did they just show us everything that's about to happen in this episode? What is this, Battlestar?
- Is it me or did Penn Badgley lose ten pounds in his face since the last episode?
- Wow, Serena's mom is such a bitch. Did I ask last week about van der Woodsen? I mean seriously, are they kidding?
- The Dan and Nate faceoff is going to be hilarious. And possibly a little gay. Oh, that's totally the relationship I'm rooting for now.
- Taylor Momsen has stick legs. Also, her hair is cuter than last week.
- What just happened to Rufus' hair? It just became weird and greasy. This show is having kind of a bad hair revolution. Kelly looks lovely with her hair down right now though.
- Oh, total offense to the Ozarks! Chace Crawford has gone very JTT. That's not a good thing. Dan is gorgeous though.
- Hmmm, Jenny's kind of already turning out to be a crazy manipulative little bitch. Or just a crazy social climber.
- Dan is like a combination between Seth Cohen and Ryan Atwood. Which is possibly Josh Schwartz' best idea ever. Seriously, he's gorgeous.
- Oh thank god someone combed Nate's hair back. What the hell is Blair wearing? How was that old lady thing better in any way than that cute blue dress she gave Jenny. Serena's hair looks mildly uncombed. Other than that, she's definitely as gorgeous as Dan.
- The invitation said black tie? None of them are in black tie. Not even the dad. Does Chuck have no mother? Is there a single child on this show who has more than one parent?
- Wow, Chuck is the most amazing pervert ever.
- Yes Gossip Girl, three way or D Day. That makes perfect sense. This show officially does not need a narrator. Hopefully, if it makes it to a second season, they'll cut that part out, making the show less annoying and leaving Kristen Bell available for work more suitable to her considerable talent.
- Fighting while running down the stairs. That was great!
- Oops. Dan. Don't you know enough about the people you go to school with to not stand around listening to other people's conversations.
- Wow, this tight shot on the five of them arguing/truth-telling/confessing is quite hot.
- Did she just say "Fuster Cluck"? HOLY CRAP. I'm sorry for insulting Gossip Girl. Kristen can narrate this show for the rest of time with lines like that. AMAZING!
- Oooh, the double turn back. Classic.
- What's the deal with all the hydrangeas? Is this going to be a plot point later on?
- Did she just throw away her whole phone? I guess it's not really necessary to have if she has absolutely no friends.
- Alright. That was pretty good. I can definitely watch more of this show. Wow, next week looks like party and a fight. How novel!

Pilot review: Reaper

This was funny. Mostly. It felt very Kevin Smith-y, which was good. But it kind of slowed down towards the end. It also became a little depressing, despite the "God wins" bit.

The casting was good. It's great that Missy Peregrym finally has a role where she can smile. Bret Harrison is the perfect Sam. His buddy (is his name Sock? because that's awesome) is a great mix of Jay and Silent Bob. I really like that friend from work, Ben, maybe? I could stand to have more of him and his waxing philosophical. The Devil is great, but I don't think they're really using him to his full potential. I feel like he could be creepier, and funnier, and more dry. In general he could just go bigger.

That might be the whole problem with the show. It alternated between moments of "we're going BIG with this" and moments of reeling it back to normal network standards. Which is a shame. They need to commit to BIG. (I'm hung up on this BIG thing because of a character Bret Harrison once played on the OC.)

Now that I think about it, this show feels a whole lot like Chuck. Same premise, essentially. Man, this season is all about people being forced into service (Chuck, Reaper, Bionic Woman, Journeyman, Pushing Daisies). What is that? Is that America's new biggest fear? Forced servitude? Slavery, if you will? Weird. Granted, this season is also kind of about slackers, nerds and weirdos. Which is cool.

Anyway, this one will definitely get another viewing from me. If for no other reason than that it's not up against anything else that I'm interested in.

Katee Sackhoff! *sigh*

I just read this review of Bionic Woman from Ain't It Cool News which includes a compilation of excerpts from other reviews of the pilot. Even though AICN thought it was decent and the general reviews are mixed, it looks like Katee is universally liked (maybe even loved) as Sarah Corvus. I'm thrilled that she's being noticed and getting great press. Honestly now, someone make this woman a star. She clearly deserves it. I'd say add her to Heroes, but they probably have their fill of sassy blondes at this point. Also, they can't just monopolize all the TV talent out there. It's not fair to anyone else. Yeah, screw that, I really want every actor I love to be on Heroes. That way I'll only have to watch one awesome show of kickassery. But really, Katee should be leaving this ensemble stuff in the dust for her own starring role. Too bad she doesn't quite fit the Amazon vibe for Wonder Woman. But really, she can do better than Wonder Woman too. I realize that Ron & David probably created Sarah Corvus just for her, but they need to come up with a starring role character just for her. Or Joss does. Or BKV. Come on guys. Put your heads together and give this woman something worthy of her awesomeness.

TV BigShot!

I was really looking forward to TV BigShot! but so far it's a little lacking. Maybe I'm just really impatient that the pages have a tendency to load slowly and incompletely. My final judgment will depend on how soon they get the ratings information up for last night's shows. I think I'm already doing poorly, but that's what happens when you operate with a strict "No Reality TV" policy.

Wait for It

My stomach hurts from laughing so hard. That's all I'm going to say. My god was that funny. Can't wait for the slap. Monday is the best TV day ever.

Molly's going to kick some ass!

Awesome. That was awesome. The clandestine phone calls were great. The number of divorces going on, not so great. I'm disappointed that it didn't work out between Matt and Janice. I really liked Janice. I kind of liked Heidi too, but that one doesn't bother me as much.

Also, I love Matt, Mohinder and Molly living the My Two Dads life. Matt and Mohinder are like a cute gay couple.

So do we think that the bad man from Molly's dream is the "old one" trying to kill Kaito Nakamura and Angela Petrelli? He sure did dress a lot like Sylar. I guess Mr. Nakamura wouldn't have recognized him though.

I just love where everyone is at. Hmm, no Niki, D.L., and Micah. It's possible that that could have contributed to awesomeness. I'm not sure how I feel about Maya. Maybe it'll be more clear when I understand what her ability is. Right now it seems like she can make people have aneurysms when she gets upset. That doesn't seem too helpful.

And finally, it looks like all of those fanfic writers who started stories post-HtSaEM with Peter having lost his memory were right on. But why is he in Ireland? And why did those guys have such terrible Irish accents?

I can't wait for Kristen Bell.

Pilot review: Big Bang Theory

This show is lame. The non-Johnny Galecki guy is kind of funny. That's about it. It's like they've written jokes about nerds instead of for nerds. I take offense to that. The cheesecake comment "I don't eat it, I just think it's a good idea" was funny. That's all.

Pilot review: Gossip Girl

"Young Folks"? Really, Josh Schwartz? Aren't you supposed to be so far ahead of the music curve that you're some kind of genius? Well, I guess the pilot was made six months ago.

Um...I love a voiceover by Kristen Bell as much as the next Veronica Mars fan, but is this really necessary? I feel like I'm watching Page Six. I really don't get this whole blogger narration thing. Hey, maybe Kristen can start doing the voiceover on Heroes this year, replacing Mohinder. Actually, Heroes probably just needs to get over the voiceover thing altogether. Evolution, everything's connected, we can all make a difference in the world. We get it. But if she could maybe do the narration for my life. That would be cool. Anyway, back to this show. Yeah, Page Six, acted out. Weird.

Wow, Blake Lively is acting the pants off of Mischa Barton. She's on this show, Mike Vogel is in 1-18-08, America Ferrera just won an Emmy...who would have thought the cast of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants would be doing so well. Anyway, it's like Serena is supposed to be Ryan and Marisa combined into one person. That doesn't leave much character for Chace Crawford. Also Leighton Meester looks way too much like Rachel Bilson for me to focus on who she's actually supposed to be. I really like Dan, as I'm supposed to. The girl playing Jenny is like Michelle Trachtenberg 2.0. Dan and Jenny's dad is really pleasant. Blaire's mom is the most one dimensional character possible. Why does Serena's brother Eric have that two toned hair? Also, for a kid that just tried to kill himself, he sure is upbeat.

Now, my main issue with this show is Chuck (hmm, there're a lot of characters named Chuck on TV this season). Why are these people friends with him? They seem to know he's a horrible person. There's absolutely nothing that we can learn about him in the future that will redeem him from being an attempted rapist. And where can his character possibly go from here? Will he get worse and be the villain? Will he have something happen that will make him feel some kind of remorse and try to become a better person?

Yeah, so, party, fight, some engaging characters, a few actors who know how to act, this show definitely doesn't have anything big working against it. It does seem to have a lot of things that you would think are working for it. Regardless of all of that though, I can't seem to muster up the energy to be really interested. I can't believe I'm actually saying this...but maybe I've outgrown the teen drama. No, there's no way that's it. This just didn't have the appeal of the first episode of The OC. Well, I'll watch the next one and see if it gets any better. I guess that's all I've got on this one.

Pilot review: Back to You

This was moderately funny. It had some solid jokes. I love Fred Willard and Ty Burrell and they both had great moments. The weather girl/meteorologist joke made me laugh out loud. I actually like Patricia Heaton quite a bit. The twist about Kelly's daughter being Chuck's was interesting and a little more serious than I was expecting this show to go. Hmm...it was all very Murphy Brown. Kind of in a good way. I'm pretty much over the standard sitcom though. And Kelsey Grammar. I feel like I read that he was supposed to be less fey than Frasier in this. Yeah, it didn't come across that way. Anyhow, it's not bad. It belongs on CBS. I probably won't make an effort to watch it again. (Although Ty Burrell does make it tempting).

Pilot review: Journeyman

Huh. I actually liked this one quite a bit. Guess I'm a fan of the Solid B-minus. It was not Quantum Leap. I was a little concerned with the whole Olivia (or is it Livia?) thing in the beginning, but by the end it was definitely made up for. The time traveling her seems less annoying and less of a threat to...(I'm having a hard time with the names)...well, the lead guy's present day relationship than the past her. Obviously the point of the show now is for him to be figuring out why he's become one of the time jumping people and how people become them. Also, I guess we'll get to find out more about why he married his brother's girlfriend, cause that was surprising and understandably awkward. I didn't love the whole idea that he would go back to different years and we'd have to see all the glaring representations of that year. The guy dressed like Michael Jackson and carrying the boom box in 1987 was a little ridiculous. I don't really feel the need to go on and on about this. I probably will only watching it in passing on a random basis, but I'll understand if it becomes popular.

Pilot review: Life

Wow. This one was weird...and kind of catchy. I don't have a clue what any of the characters' names are though. And it said them, frequently, at the bottom of the screen. Actually, except for Adam Arkin, I don't even know the actors names. Hmm.

I liked the fruit thing. And the Zen thing. The lead guy has a lisp that I totally wasn't expecting. He's also a lot weirder, more neurotic, and generally less Zen than I was expecting. Crews. Charlie Crews. That's his name.

Crews' partner, Reese maybe, is interesting. It always seems unusual when they give the really hot woman an unusual vice like drug addiction. I really liked that he instantly liked her and felt protective of her. And the scene with all the cocaine and the shower.

I'm not sure what's supposed to be going on with Charlie and his lawyer. Whether their's was a relationship and is now just a friendship or it's a friendship working up to a relationship. It's hard to tell. She's also much more wrinkly than I would have expected for someone so pretty. She's probably cursing HD these days. Hmm, she was on Melrose Place. Funny, I noticed the wrinkly problem on Laura Leighton two years ago on Eyes. Maybe the Melrose crew did a whole lot of tanning on set. Except for Marcia Cross, who is made of porcelain.

I like the fact that he's investigating a huge conspiracy. It kind of makes me hope, though, that in the end he'll find out he wasn't framed at all and the whole situation is a fluke. Naturally he'll uncover some other huge conspiracy among the LA police force, just nothing to do with him.

In general, I think this one will do somewhat well. It's kind of in the vein of Bones, Numbers, and House. The quirky detective thing. Vincent D'Onofrio's character in Law & Order: CI, just a little lighter and less psychopath. It's also got some beautiful shots of LA.

Pilot review: Bionic Woman

Hmm...maybe it's just that my expectations for this one were alternately really, really high and really, really low, but I was a little disappointed.

Michelle Ryan (Jamie) is a little bland. Or maybe I just didn't get a sense of what Jamie's character is supposed to be like yet. Chris Bowers (Will) reminds me so much of the husband on Medium that I kept getting confused and thinking it was him. I hate that Molly Price's haircut. Katee Sackhoff (Sarah Corvus) was awesome and beautiful and sexy despite having some terrible dialog.

Derrick made a comment about Michelle Ryan looking like Cobie Smulders. It's very true. It's also weird because the girl playing Becca, Jamie's sister, also played Robin's sister in an episode of How I Met Your Mother.

There seemed to be a whole lot of parallel plots being set up that I'm having a hard time recalling. I know there are things having to do with the organization making the bionics, something having to do with Will's dad, and something to do with Jamie's sister's computer use. The only one really holding my interest at this point is Sarah Corvus and what happened to turn her into what she is. But that is possibly just the result of my love for Katee Sackhoff.

Oh yeah, and the whole "Girl power" thing was really being shoved down our throats. We've seen Buffy and Alias and Battlestar and Heroes. We get that hot women can kick ass and still be really nice, lovely people, rather than bitches. That part was pretty overdone. Maybe it was just a hook for the pilot, though, and it'll be toned down in the rest of the series.

All in all, I'm still mildly curious. I'll probably keep watching until it's so bad I just can't watch anymore. The bottom line is that I'm happy to see Katee Sackhoff on network TV and if this show doesn't succeed I hope it leads to something incredible for her after Battlestar.

Shoot, some afterthoughts. Why is Will's dad being played by Mark Sheppard, a guy who can't be more than 10 years older than Chris Bowers? Chris Bowers isn't listed on the IMDb page. Does that mean he didn't make it past the pilot? Lucy Hale is the girl I mentioned above who plays Jamie's sister Becca. Apparently she was originally going to be played by Mae Whitman. Her?

Pilot review: Chuck

Okay, so a secret government agency has co-opted your body and completely altered your life as you know it. Someone from their organization has gone rogue and is compromising their secrecy. You still hold some cards because they need you to help them clean up their mess.You can't really trust anyone who says they're trying to help you, but you have to pick a side to work with anyway. And the only way to keep your friends and family safe is to go home and pretend like nothing's out of the ordinary. Now, did I just describe Chuck or Bionic Woman? Turns out, it's both. Guess NBC has a strong theme this year. Regardless, here are my thoughts on Chuck:

I liked it. Funny, action-y, Captain Awesome-y. I wouldn't go so far as to say the whole epsiode was awesome, but it was good and enjoyable.

Chuck is definitely the middle class Seth Cohen 8 years later (although based on the ages of the actors, 1 year earlier). He's a "nerd" who is, in reality, really cool. Just not among his sister's snooty doctor friends. He's loveable for all the reasons Seth was loveable, but not really annoying or completely self involved the way Seth was. His friend Morgan is a moron, and pretty damn funny. His sister is the epitome of nice-n-cute-ness (and Sarah Lancaster is just really endearing). Sister's boyfriend, Captain Awesome, the name says it all. He's kind of like the post-gay-dad Luke. Nice, attractive, and dopey. But he's apparently also quite smart, based on the doctor thing.

Then there are the government people. Sarah (if that's her real name), the CIA agent, looks a lot like Olivia Wilde did while on the OC. She's undoubtedly attractive, but she's a little bland in terms of personality. Maybe she'll become less so as secrets about what's really going on are revealed, but that may be a long shot. Adam Baldwin is John Casey, the NSA agent. He's really hamming it up, but that's definitely got to be for the benefit of the broad audience, rather than a result of his acting abilities, because he can deliver bone dry sarcasm with the best of them. By far the most interesting of the government agents is Bryce Larkin, the rogue CIA agent and former college friend of Chuck who got him into all of this in the first place. Bryce is smooth, clever, has a kickass soundtrack, and is unfortunately already dead. I missed him immediately.

Other than that, apparently all of the government's secrets have a lot to do with pie. Or at least whatever was encrypted in that picture of a pie, because Chuck has to see that one a lot. I hope they don't have to do that flashy picture thing every time he's recalling a piece of information, because that's going to get tedious really fast. The exception to this is the very last recall of the episode where we find out a key piece of Sarah's past. It makes sense that we saw that one because now we know exactly what he knows without him having to say it. So I guess it's important sometimes, but it's just going to get really annoying if the show is constantly being interrupted by the same flashing pictures giving us bits of information. That's just my take.

One final note: I'm really happy that Josh Schwartz is continuing his quest to force "awesome" back into the vernacular. So far, I think it's been successful. I'm still saying "awesome" instead of saying "Mike Jones."

Editorial on Made in China/Consumerism

This is an editorial in the Boston Globe by Jim Shannon, President of the NFPA. NFPA is generally a somewhat left leaning organization, if only because it lobbies for ever increasing numbers of fire safety regulations. This editorial, however, is quite left leaning and accusatory and essentially calls for a massive shift in popular consumer culture. It does certainly make me wonder about how I can reconcile my largely libertarian beliefs with this obvious need for greater regulations to ensure my own safety. This, of course, only increases my desire to move to Germany.

Fall TV Preview

I'm currently eating Macaroni & Cheese with ground turkey and Pace picante sauce. I can't decide if this is one of my best or one of my worst culinary experiments because I'm alternating between loving it and hating it on a bite-by-bite basis.

So in other news, I've just gone through Entertainment Weekly's Fall TV Preview (my Bible for premiere week) and have a good sense of what new shows I'll try out this year.

First of all, the returning shows that I'll definitely be watching and/or TiVoing:
- How I Met Your Mother (CBS, Mon@8)
- Heroes (NBC, Mon@9)
- Bones (FOX, Tue@8)
- 30 Rock/The Office/Scrubs (NBC, Thur@8:30-10)
And shows that won't be back until Spring:
- Lost (ABC)
- Battlestar Galactica (SciFi)

Now, shows I'm really interested in and will definitely try out for a few episodes:
- Aliens in America (CW, Mon@8:30)
- Chuck (NBC, Mon@8)
- Reaper (CW, Tue@9)
- Pushing Daisies (ABC, Wed@8)
- Bionic Woman (NBC, Wed@9)
- Gossip Girl (CW, Wed@9)

And finally, shows that seem interesting or have some critical acclaim that I will watch the pilots for before passing judgement:
- Viva Laughlin (CBS, Sun@8)
- Life is Wild (CW, Sun@8)
- The Big Bang Theory (CBS, Mon@8:30)
- Samantha Who? (ABC, Mon@9)
- Journeyman (NBC, Mon@10)
- Carpoolers (ABC, Tue@8:30)
- Back to You (FOX, Wed@8)
- Dirty Sexy Money (ABC, Wed@10)
- Life (NBC, Wed@10)
- Big Shots (ABC, Thur@10)
- Moonlight (CBS, Fri@9)

Clearly the first few weeks will require some TiVoing-one-show-while-watching-another time slots. And obviously I need a number of these to suck and be canceled in order to have a functioning life at all. As I just read on theFutonCritic.com, the success rate of new shows each year is about 32%, so this should be no problem, except that I was about at capacity last year and the only show I've lost is Veronica Mars. Maybe I need some of them to also only be Fall Season shows so I can watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox in the spring, and possible The Captain, New Amsterdam, and The I.T. Crowd. Honestly, when is someone just going to pay me to watch TV?!? Have I already said that recently? Ugh, plus I'll have to check in on Private Practice and Desperate Housewives occasionally to see Chris Lowell and Nathan Fillion, respectively (honestly Nathan Fillion, Desperate Housewives?! Really?!). And I'm really having a strong desire to go back and catch up on Supernatural on DVD. Well, at least I rarely feel the need to see movies anymore. Honestly, what job is this? And why can't I get it?

Stuff I'm looking for.

Right now I really want Entertainment Weekly's Fall TV Preview. I can't figure out what's going on with it. It came out September 6, 2005. In 2006 it was the same week. For some reason the 2006 issue isn't listed in the website's "complete" archives. Based on the past two years, the current one should be out this week, but it's not. Where is it? Will it be next week? Did I miss it? It's making me anxious. I need to be prepared for the season. My TiVo needs to be properly programmed.

I also want to get Heroes by tomorrow without buying it. That doesn't seem to be an option. I'm just sending Netflix stuff back today, so I won't get anything until at least Saturday, possibly Monday, and even then it will only be the first three discs. It's available from the library but all of the copies are on hold or out until next week. I'm not sure why I need it so badly before this weekend, I just really want it.

That's all.