This must be what going mad feels like

Or maybe having a heart attack. Or a stroke. Am I dreaming? Seriously, someone tell me if my psyche has fractured and I'm actually now living in a fantasy world of my own construction. Oh, right, the point of this post:

Joss Whedon is doing a new TV show called Dollhouse starring Eliza Dushku.

The links:

Best News Ever!
O Ye of Little Faith
Joss Whedon taps Eliza Dushku for new Fox series
Eliza Dushku Lures Joss Whedon Back to TV

I've got to be honest, it sounds a little too high concept to be successful. But maybe I would have said that about Buffy too. Really, though, I'm not even positive how I feel about the concept. But I'm not going to think about that right now. Joss is my master. I have faith in Joss. I will watch whatever he gives me until it becomes boring.

Oh, yeah, it's on Fox...let the cancellation countdown begin.

The Plot Coagulates...

So last week I noticed that some names, like David Anders and Kristen Bell, were in the opening credits with the other series regulars, and some names, like Hayden Panettiere weren't in the credits at all. This week David Anders is there again and Hayden Panettiere is there, but no Kristen Bell and no Noah Gray-Cabey. It's very confusing.

Maya is completely stupid. I have to admit, though, I wouldn't be opposed to doing away with Alejandro (which seems inevitable due to his guest star status) and having Sybriel and Maya hook up. I do like where the Sybriya (like what I'm doing there?) relationship is going.

I hope that mention of Claude means that he'll be reappearing at some point this season. I was kind of annoyed by him initially, but now that I know that Christopher Eccleston is a former Doctor Who (though short lived one), I understand his fanboy appeal. And who is this "Liquid Man" the old Ukrainian guy mentioned? Significant? Or a throw away reference meant to flesh out the world?

Wow, Noah is incredibly sinister. This is disturbing. At least Mohinder retains some sense of morals. Claire doesn't seem to be though. She and her dad are just two sides of the same something or other. At least she has the good sense to be slightly suspicious of West. He really does not seem like a very good guy. She's had to look at him questioningly several times in this episode alone.

Kensei's being awesome in the about 30 seconds we get to see him in any given episode. Hiro, on the other hand, looks terrible. I know I wanted Hiro and Yaeko to be together, but now I feel really bad for Kensei. I hope he gets to go back to the present with Hiro. He's quite adorable.

Hmm, Niki might be more tolerable as Mohinder's prison guard. Or they might just become super annoying together. I love the shifting alliances that are going on here though. It's just too bad none of them seem to be heading towards any sort of cohesive plot.

Oh, looks like I spoke too soon. Geez, how many times will this show have to save New York? Not that I mind, because at least now there's a plot. Thank God!

(I miss Nathan.)

Scrubs!

So, I'd forgotten that it would actually feel worthwhile to watch Scrubs again. Although it is still a little too wrought with emotional issues. I do miss the simpler times of seasons ago.

I believe I'd been saying for a while now that JD is an "annoying, whiny man-child".

My only question is, haven't they had that Joe guy as a patient before? Does every long running medical show have this same problem where every patient starts to feel familiar as if they've already been a patient? Seriously though, where have I seen that guy before?

Scrap those other two, this is by far the most accurate.

Which Springfield Resident Are You?
	You are part Comic Book Guy. Who said there's anything wrong with being a nerd? Certainly not you! You may be obsessed with things no one else cares about, but your passionate about what you do, so who cares what anyone else thinks?
	You are part Krusty the Clown. Being the life of the party isn't always easy. Most people adore your vibrant and unique sense of humor, even though it's just a facade disguising your cynical outlook on life.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

And this explains the rest...

Which Disney Villain Are You?
	You are Ursula. You are the biggest and most powerful. Some may liken you to the business type; you drive a tough bargain, trading legs for voices. You single handedly made a whole generation distrust strangers, no matter how nice and caring they are towards "poor unfortunate souls"
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

This explains a lot!

Which Harry Potter Character Are You?
	You are Fred and George. You're a joker at heart, but when push comes to shove, you know what's important.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

More Forgottens

So I never watched Samantha Who? or Viva Laughlin. Apparently it really didn't matter for Viva Laughlin. Of course it didn't make any sense to me that they were premiering a Sunday show on a Thursday. But that probably didn't have much to do with it. Now I kind of wish I had seen it so I would know whether it was really as horrendous as it was purported to be, or whether this was one of those cases of self-fulfilling prophecy.

As far as Samantha Who?. It's on during Heroes so I can't really bring myself to care. It doesn't seem to be on the verge of being a break out hit, though, so I'm not going to worry about it too much.

Granted, having not watched Life is Wild, Viva Laughlin, or Samantha Who? completely undermines the accuracy of my pilot recurring themes count. Oh well. I don't know that I needed to hear "Young Folks" or a voice over many more times this year anyway.

Well golly!

Analysis:

Yeah, so what I've gotten from this season so far is that I can pretty much do without Niki. I am a little concerned for Ali Larter though. Like maybe Kristen Bell's character is going to come in and become a regular and Niki will get phased out, or more likely killed, because the show will have exceeded it's hot blonde quota. And I'm generally okay with that because, as I've mentioned, I don't care much for Niki, but I'll also feel bad if Ali Larter is out of a good job just because her character is boring and annoying.

I am glad that Sylar's back. I'm not sure why he's calling himself Gabriel again. He doesn't really seem to have gone back to his mild mannered ways. He's still pretty lethal, only because he has no morals and preys on the unassuming. I do like that about him. Maybe he'll kill Maya and Alejandro! Also, Maya has an insanely low freakout threshold. And I'm still not seeing any purpose at all to her and Alejandro's powers.

I am really intrigued by the old people. I'm really curious to find out how they're all related and how all of the current characters are related to them. The only one I'm questioning so far is Charles Deveaux. Did Simone have a power that we just never knew about? Or are other characters related to him in ways we don't know about yet? Was the women on the far left of the picture possibly Monica's grandmother or mother? I'm guessing this picture is to this season what Peter's premonition about exploding was to last season, as in, the whole picture will make sense at the end of the season. Or at least at the end of this volume.

Point by Point:
- Claire always lies in exactly the same way. Don't her parents notice that?
- I really hate having to be suspicious of both Claire and HRG.
- Do you think the show distinguishes at all between Monty & Simon, or is it just a term for the two boys? And are those the same kids who were Monty and Simon last season? I'll have to check.
- Hey, West is pretty dark hair and eyed. I hope we find out that he's also Nathan's illegitimate child and therefore Claire's half brother.
- I'm starting to get a little suspicious that they don't always let us hear when Matt is hearing people's thoughts. I think I'm okay with that though. As long as they explain things in retrospect.
- I want to like Angela. But I think they're making it pretty clear that she's still hiding things. And when will we find out her power?
- What's Monica's power? The super memory thing, like Charlie?
- I have to hand it to Claire, she is great at the impromptu generation of research projects.
- Holy! This is what I've wanted on Lost! Everyone's parents are part of an evil plot to ruin their lives! Nice!
- Also, "This guy's name is Bob" was hilarious to me for some reason. Maybe because the TWoP recapper calls him Tobby.
- Yeah, she's got a thing for heights. She's also got a thing for guys who can fly. I hate West. A lot.
- "Well golly"? Did he really just say that? Sylar/Gabriel is so awesome.
- God, Maya's freakout threshold is really low. She needs to work on that. Also, she's way too into sharing information about herself. Doesn't she know not to tell Sylar stuff? Didn't she watch the show last year?
- Poor Derek. Dead already. Unless that cockroach means something else.
- Okay, it seemed like forward momentum at first, but now it looks like the whole Bennet family is just reverting back to last year.
- Seriously, the middle of the night Matt/Mohinder fights are really really cute. But does Mohinder's apartment have no air conditioning? Why do they always look sweaty?
- Next week Kristen Bell! Hooray!

Shutterbug Heroes

Okay, after having looked at the World Tour pictures on the Heroes page, and having seen this picture, it's very clear that these cast members take as many pictures of themselves as possible. Also, they're all very good at taking pictures of themselves with their own arm. I love this picture. You can actually see them in the viewscreen of the camera. It does kind of look like Milo is just taking the picture of himself, though, and cutting Leonard out. Maybe he needs to work on his technique a little more.

Ah, here are some more of the photos as evidence that they're taking pictures of each other and themselves all the freaking time:






And some further evidence of Milo's practice of said picture taking skill:



They also really like to show each other stuff on their respective phones and cameras. There's also evidence of this in the World Tour videos and the Comic-con panel videos.







Yeah, I'll be honest. I pretty much just like looking at these people. They're gorgeous. I wish there were a few other casts out there having this much fun together...and posting evidence of said fun online (*cough* Battlestar Galactica *cough*).

Welcome back, Sylar!

Analysis:

Okay, I feel like this year is shaping up similar to last year. I definitely feel like Season 1 started off a little slow, too. I'm willing to be patient and wait this out. As soon as the various storylines become more connected, things inevitably get more interesting. I am starting to feel like some things have been introduced, or were introduced in the first two episodes, that have just been left without explanation and possibly have no explanation coming. Things like Nathan's hallucinations, Claire and Nathan's clandestine phone calls...I was about to say Claire's stolen car but I just realized that that's the car the prison kid in Mexico is driving Maya and Alejandro in. Never mind. I guess they've got everything under control.

Right now I'm having a hard time trusting anyone or feeling good about where anyone is at. They all seem to be making really poor decisions. Except for Hiro and Kensei. I'm pretty happy with them. And Sylar, but he just showed up, so that could easily change. I'm definitely not thrilled at all by the Noah/Claire issue. It pains me to see them at odds and it pains me that Noah is acting so sketchy and potentially evil these days. I'll have to start calling him HRG again. It's like his villainous alter ego.

I'm really unhappy about the Peter storyline. I don't like the idea that he's so far from everyone and everything else. Peter needs his people. I'm also concerned that it's being implied that he absorbed Sylar, powers, personality, and all. I'm guessing that's what the wanting to kill that one guy is all about. That definitely doesn't seem like a good thing. The last thing we need is all of the heroes being enemies. What is this? Marvel's Civil War? Because that's what it's shaping up to be so far. I think the solution is that they need to make themselves a secret lair, they all need to live there, and the lines of communication need to be open so everyone understands what everyone else is doing. I know there'd be no dramatic tension...or plot...but I wouldn't have to be so anxious either.

Point-by-Point:
- Peter is so hot. So hot.
- The twins didn't do a very good job checking to see if they were clear before breaking that car window if there was a policeman standing right there. They're not too bright.
- I miss D.L.
- I love the idea that Candice can be played by just about anyone. I hadn't realized that she was still alive. That can be really, really dangerous.
- Sylar's current situation is awesome. I think Hercules might be right. Sylar might really become a hero this year.
- Didn't Claire already read that book last year when Zach gave it to her?
- This is the best episode of My Two Dads ever!
- Hiro's notes to the future are his greatest idea yet. But poor Ando, will he ever have a purpose?
- Oh thank god, the shirt's gone again. And now it's back.
- West is such a tool. And yeah Claire, running away like that isn't suspicious at all.
- Um...if I wanted to watch this Superman bit I'd watch Smallville.
- Oh, Isaac's loft. Sad. I miss him. Wait, it's Mohinder's lab now? Way to reuse the sets guys!
- This is a really weird situation for Hiro. I want him to have the girl too, but I also really like Kensei.
- That's such a good question Micah. Everyone under the age of 20 seems to be wondering that these days. Here now, stay with your creepy aunt.
- Yes, Maya and Alejandro adopt an American kid. And he drives a Nissan Rogue. Awesome! (And I just realized that it's Claire's stolen car. Awesomer!)
- Way to use the Force grip, Peter.
- Come on Sylar. You can move the cup. I believe in you, you crazy bastard. This pandering to Sylar's weird sex cravings is...really, really weird. Dammit Sylar, you're giving up sex with anyone you want just so you can have her power? Well, yeah, that is a good power. Haha! This Sylar storyline is kicking ass.
- Really? Is the tattoo really necessary?
- Dammit Peter OPEN THE BOX! Go home to your brother and your completely noble life!
- Why does Niki need to be cured of superstrength? I really could do without her. Maybe they'll phase her out and leave Micah with the aunt and cousin.
- Aw shit. Do we really have to go villainizing Noah again? And killing him? Seriously?!

Also, I know Maya's black goo eyes look kind of like the X-files black goo eyes, but I seriously feel like I've seen even more similar (like exactly the same, tears and all) black goo eyes somewhere else. I still can't come up with where. I want to say Event Horizon, but after some research I've determined that that's a totally different looking eye problem. So maybe I'm just remembering a combination of things that end up looking like Maya's black goo eyes.

Pineapple Incident 2.0

So, How I Met Your Mother seems to be doing the same thing they did last season, alternating between completely awesome episodes, and mediocre ones. Last week was mediocre. Good news for this week! I love the callback to the Pineapple Incident. But why do they all have such glowy phones?

In other news, I went to the CBS.com HIMYM page where there is a link to special Comcast clips of the show. The extended scene of Barney and Ted in the hot tub from Wait For It is hysterical. As far as I can tell, it was only cut for censorship purposes, which is a shame.

Pilot non-review: Life is Wild

So I didn't watch Life is Wild and I forgot to Tivo it. Based on the reviews I've seen and the number of comparisons to 7th Heaven, I think I'm just going to let this one go. I'm already doing my part to support the CW this year with Season Passes to Gossip Girl, Reaper, and Aliens in America. If Life is Wild emerges later on as the greatest new show of the year maybe I'll make a point of going back to catch up. Until then, it is off my radar.

Common Elements

Okay, I know I haven't watched Samantha Who?, Viva Laughlin, or Life is Wild yet, but I want to do the list now anyway. Without further adieu, the number of shows (this only applies to show's I've watched):

- Employing voice over narration: 6 (Really? That was it? And Chuck's might not even count. It could have just been the "Previously On".)
- With a main character in servitude: 6
- With a main character with special abilities: 6
- Set in LA: 5
- With a character named Chuck: 4
- Using Peter Bjorn & John's "Young Folks": 4*
- Set in New York: 3
- Involving the undead: 3
- Set in San Francisco: 2
- Featuring an iPhone: 2
- Featuring a Prius: 3*

I think that's about it for common denominators. It looks like Moonlight is the winner with 5 of the denominators. I think this is similar to wearing five different fashion fads at once. You've passed hip and officially arrived at desperate. Congratulations Moonlight! You're the TV equivalent of Hilary Duff.

*updated after one rewatch and one recap mention. This actually results in a tie between Moonlight (narration, special abilities, LA, undead, iPhone) and Journeyman (servitude, Young Folks, San Francisco, iPhone, Prius).

Pie-lette review: Pushing Daisies

Okay, I love this show. I knew I would, but I really do love it. Wow. I think it's Amelie mixed with Big Fish with a dash of the Addams Family (but that's mainly just the houses). Totally adorable and awesome.

First of all, it made me very hungry...for pie (and reminded me that I still need to watch Waitress). Second of all, Ned is really likable.

He pets the dog with a back scratcher. That's awesome!

Yeah, so that was great. Probably the best pilot of the year, as everyone has said. The characters were really engaging. Ned is incredibly likable because of and despite his questionable morals. Chuck is exactly the right amount of quirky without being annoying. Emerson is hilarious, particularly because of the number of times he says Bitch. I'm not quite seeing the point of Kristen Chenoweth's character yet, other than to take care of the dog and be the suspicious neighbor/co-worker. I guess I answered my own question. That's clearly the point of her. And the aunts look like they'll be amusing as long as they're not overused (why does Swoosie Kurtz always have to play the crazy old lady?).

I really had no problem with the plot of the episode either. I thought they did a good job of getting the backstory over quickly and concisely. It had enough creepy macabre-ness to balance the saccharine-y sweetness (I guess that's the show in general though). Actually, I'm a little concerned about them being able to fill a full episode now that there's extra time that won't be taken up by the back story and exposition. It also felt just a little bit like a movie and I'm having a hard time seeing how it will be a sustainable series. I'm more than willing to stick around and let them show me, though.

And it's so green!

Pilot review: Carpoolers

So, I'm not even sure why I'm bothering to write anything about this one. Jerry O'Connell is quite funny. Of course, I already knew that because I was one of very, very few people who saw and enjoyed Joe's Apartment. This show is not as bad as the reviews made it out to be. Either that, or the bad reviews lowered my expectations so low that I'm pleasantly surprised. Regardless, it's not good enough to be worth watching regularly.

On the plus side, Jerry O'Connell's character and I have the same Jolly Roger t-shirt from Target. That is awesome.

Also, is the guy playing Dougie the guy that was in...what was the name of that TV show that wasn't called Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Seriously, I know this...Parker Lewis Can't Lose! Is that him? I'll look it up. No. It's not even remotely that guy. I'm an idiot.

Well, this show provided a surprising amount more entertainment than I was expecting.

Eclipster: keep track of your fellow Heroes!

Oh man chop. Peter is so hot. And shirtless. And sweaty (although it does kind of look like he's covered in some sort of yellow liquid; maybe he's just jaundiced from his time in the box, or something). And there is a whole lot of crappy Irish-ness going on in this episode as well. Are any of these actors actually Irish? Are they all Irish and just really bad at speaking normally?

Maya's crying black goo problem seems really familiar. What is that from? Where have I seen it before? Come on brain. So, so familiar. (Possibly the blood coming out of people's eyes in the Angel episode "Destiny", it seems like there's something else though.)

Oh, I liked it so much when Claire and her dad were on good, honest terms. I don't like the idea that they're hiding stuff from each other again. And the reintroduction of the Haitian is making the whole situation seem more ominous. Were we all just tricked into thinking that Noah had some sort of moral compass? Is he going to go back to the "erasing his families memories for their safety" plan? Because that is not cool at all.

Had Matt really met none of the characters other than HRG, Mohinder, and Peter (and, I guess, Ted, Sylar, Niki, D.L....okay, nevermind)? Anyway, he lives with Mohinder. Shouldn't he know everyone Mohinder knows or knows about? Can't he look at the big map board? I guess it's possible that he never met Ando and no mention was ever made of Ando, but he acts like he's never even heard of Hiro. Is that possible? And was that really his only previous interaction with Nathan? These people seriously need a social networking site or something (Heroes-ster?, Heroes-book?, MyHeroes: that's the one...no, no, wait: Eclipster!). I am happy that at least a portion of them have mastered the use of cell phone communication.

I'm now going to make a list.
Powers Peter Should Have Based on His Encounters with Other Heroes (attempted in order):
- (whatever Angela and Papa Petrelli's powers are/were)
- Flight (Nathan)
- (whatever Charles Deveaux's power was)
- Painting the Future (Isaac)
- Manipulating Space and Time (Hiro)
- Regeneration (Claire)
- Telekinesis (Sylar)
- Telepathy (Matt)
- Invisibility (Claude)
- Emitting Nuclear Energy (Ted Sprague)
- Superhuman Strength (Niki)
- Phasing (D.L.; apparently "across the plaza" was close enough for this one, which means there's a possibility that he has Micah and Molly's powers too.)
- Super Hearing/Melting Metal (Sylar; if Peter absorbed them from Sylar during their last fight.)

I can't think of any situations where he would have been close to Candice, Linderman, Charlie, Wireless, the Haitian, Eden, or Kaito Nakamura to gain any of their powers. And if he were ever to meet Maya and Alejandro would those two powers (?) cancel each other out?

Casey & Sarah Forever!

Second episode of Chuck was better than the pilot. Cute, funny, generally amusing and entertaining. I liked Sarah a lot more in this episode than I did in the pilot. She has more personality. Also, is it just me or does there seem to be some weird attraction between Sarah and John Casey? Okay, so I know it's just me, but I still find the idea incredibly amusing. And Adam Baldwin and his comedic skills were definitely better utilized in this episode. Yep, this one's a keeper for now. Hooray all around!

In addition, I watched the whole episode on the NBC website which was quite pleasant and worked very well. I'm afraid they'll start charging as soon as they've got their own thing set up and their deal with iTunes is over. That'll be sad. In the meantime, hooray for NBC!

Pilot review: Aliens in America

This was funny, in a quirky way. I'll keep watching it. But seriously, what is up with the voice overs this year? I can't wait until Lost starts back in January featuring a new voice over...by Jacob (that's the invisible guy's name, right?). I'm going to do some research and post about some common elements. Later.

This just seen on the TVGuide site

Ausiello on Battlestar Galactica

Question: Can I please get some Battlestar Galactica scoop? — Theresa

Ausiello: I'm hearing that the climax of the upcoming Razor telepic is, to quote a BSG insider, "probably the best BSG ending since Boomer walked onto Ragnar Station with the other Cylons at the end of the miniseries." All I'll say is it involves someone uttering the following words: "*a*a ****c* **** **ad t*e ****n **** ** i** **d. *** is the ****** ** *** ***c*l****, the ********* ** *****. **** must *** ****** ***."

Huh?