Maybe I like being infuriated by a lack of sense or plot. That's possible, right?

3.03 "One of Us, One of Them"

So it was hilarious that Milo Ventimiglia had to respond to the name Jesse again, for that brief time. Between him, Kristen Bell and Francis Capra it was like the CW around here. They could've added in Alexis Bledel and it would've been a party. I'm glad they got rid of WeevilJesse, though. No need for another new character. And I do like the idea of two Peter's running around the future arguing.

Also, Meredith, Micah, and the Haitian are back? How many characters does this show need? It was really pleasant not to have any Mohinder or Maya in this episode. If they could have removed the Parkman spirit walk stuff it might have been downright entertaining. I'm pretty sure I don't need Elle around anymore either. From the previous episode, I don't feel too strongly about the direction her character is going in, and, to be honest, I'd love to see Kristen Bell move on to bigger and better stuff.

All of that said, I did enjoy the HRG/Sylar partnership, brief as it was. I'm a little disappointed that HRG is still planning to kill Sylar, but it would've been fun to see them out doing their good cop/bad cop thing for a little while longer. But I do wish Zachary Quinto would get a haircut.

The thing is, this show is still only offering the occasional shimmer of entertainment. But they've got me hooked because I'm desperate to see Adam's return. Also, I have a suspicion that Angela wasn't really telling the truth about being Sylar's mother, and I really want to know if I'm right. Damn this show.

Do Not Disturb: Out in 3

So I gave it less than five. Turns out it only got to three. Congratulations first canceled show of the season!

That was a really confusing Sprint commercial!

3.02 "The Butterfly Effect"

This part was a little more exciting that the last part. And no voiceover!

For one thing, Kristen Bell and Francis Capra looking at each other from opposite sides of a cell...just like old times. I still don't understand how Future Peter put regular Peter in someone else's body. But I'm interested.

For another thing, Angela Petrelli is Sylar's mom?! Is everyone on the show related? And I'm kind of wondering if maybe Linderman is actually someone's dad. Possibly Nathan's. Also, the fact that Nathan is hallucinating Linderman is awesome.

I'm happy that Elle and Adam are back. Would've loved to see more of Adam than just a flash in Angela's dream though. I'm glad Elle's dad is dead. Their relationship was a little tiresome.

I'm pretty curious about the whole future plot and the different people going back and forth in time. I'm not as interested in the whole Hiro/Ando/Daphne piece of paper with the formula thing. Although that seems to be what causes the world to split in half as seems to be depicted in the new future paintings, so I guess I should be interested in that. I need a little more detail, though, because right now that plot has lost my interest.

Basically what I'm hoping for the season is that all of the plot lines come together enough that everyone ends up in the same place at the same time. Like season 1. That was part of what annoyed me about season 2, what contributed to the boringness and crappy plots. People were all off doing their own things, so not only did it require the episodes to keep jumping around to every different storyline, but it also made it feel like it was a couple of different shows cut and pasted together.

Pilot review: Gary Unmarried

I'd read reviews that this was really terrible with not a single joke to laugh at. I really didn't find it that bad. I like Jay Mohr. I like Paula Marshall (although everyone knows she's a show killer so this show doesn't stand a chance). I really like Ed Begley Jr. and his character is actually quite amusing. The whole thing is very family-sitcom-y. The jokes are sitcom jokes. Some are funny. Some are so cheesy they make you cringe. Bottom line: it was better than Do Not Disturb. Not particularly special in any way though.

The Duck-Rabbit

1.03 "The Ghost Network"

Yay Fenway!

That's pretty much it. This episode wasn't groundbreaking on any front. It is a little weird that they choose to have dramatic music build-up and startling camera reveals when Broyles is meeting with Nina Sharp. It's not like we don't already know that that happens.

I also have some kind of half-suspicion that Walter Bishop somehow is William Bell. Also, I do like the fact that Nina alluded to the idea that Olivia is somehow related to everything happening in some way other than her current job. Like it's related to her past, or this is her destiny, or something. It's all very Lost.

Pilot review: The Mentalist

This is a terrible name for a show. The show itself, however, not terrible. Actually not bad at all. It's a little weird that the main character solves crimes just by reading people well, but Simon Baker is really likeable so he pulls it off. Robin Tunney didn't seem to do much. Owain Yeoman should have stayed on Sarah Connor Chronicles as Cromartie. Amanda Righetti somehow looks totally different than she did on The O.C. All in all, it was an enjoyable show. Granted I did spend part of the time putting together a shopping cart while watching, but I don't think that was due to disinterest in the show. But it's a procedural and I really only need one procedural. If Bones suddenly becomes unwatchable then maybe I'll switch to this. ...Actually, it's more likely I'll just go without a procedural.

"Like a long night after a bad taco"?

3.01 "The Second Coming"

This is "better than ever"? Really? Hmph.

First of all, Mohinder is annoying. Maya is annoying. The two of them put together are more annoying than I could have possibly imagined. Aside than that, I don't quite understand where this amoral version of Mohinder came from. I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't even remotely remember his story arc from last season and how that might have led to this drastic shift of values, but something about this is seeming a little forced. And super strength seems like a kind of tired power for him to have. Aren't there any new powers? And, oh God, are these voiceovers really still necessary? What is he even talking about anymore?

I love how in every version of the future, no matter what caused that future, Peter manages to get that scar on his face. And it stands to reason that no matter how many times they stop the world from finding out about them by going back in time, and no matter how many times they avert some kind of world-ending catastrophe, they're really just postponing those things because both problems, like the scar on Peter's face, seem determined to happen no matter what. Oh, and Nathan not dying seems to fall into this category too.

I'm glad to see Sylar's back, but wasn't there a better way to pull the knife out of his chest than to pull firmly downward?

One of these days Hiro is going to learn to stop jumping into the future. He only ever sees bad things and almost gets blown up when he does that. I'm pleased for Ando, though. If he's got a power of his own he won't be such a tag along anymore. Speedy girl annoys me. She seems like a replacement for Elle and I don't like that.

What's the point of Matt anymore? And Nikessiginaracy? I guess they've managed to get rid of Molly, at least for the time being. But what about Micah and Monica? Based on the website, I'm thinking they're gone for now too. Well good riddance. The fewer characters there are, the less likely this is to get out of hand again. Well...we'll see.

Anyway, that's enough of this. I'll watch the second episode tomorrow night. I'm going to bed.

Pilot review: Worst Week

This was actually pretty funny. Kurtwood Smith is funny. And Nancy Lenehan is funny. And the lead dude, Kyle Bornheimer, is funny. And all of them are managing to be funny in this show at the same time. And the whole deal with the dad being dead but not dead was all actually really funny. But I honestly can't imagine wanting to watch week after week of this. It really is very much like Meet the Parents. Basically an hour and a half is enough. So it's a good effort, but it's not getting a Season Pass. Unless Heroes is so bad I have to give up on it. Then maybe I'll reconsider.

Robney? Barbin? Awesome?

Apparently no matter what kind of entertainment medium I'm partaking in, no matter what the characters are like, no matter how reasonable or unreasonable a certain situation might be to a plot, I am a shipper. I am tremendously pleased with the idea of Barney and Robin. I'm rational enough to know that if it ever does happen, it'll happen at the very end of the show, but that won't stop me from rooting for it for the rest of the series. My only concern is that they'll end up getting into a relationship sooner than that and then Barney will pull a Chuck Bass. Which would be devastating. But I'll keep hope alive regardless. It worked with Buffy and Spike.

Field of Dreams Syndrome

Mad Men just won the Emmy for Best Drama. (It already won the Golden Globe last spring, but those are worth even less than Emmys.) Anyway, I think this means I'll actually have to watch the show. I've had the whole first season from iTunes for months now and I never watched more than the first episode. It just wasn't fun for me. But I pride myself on my completely pretentious taste in television so I guess I'll have to give it another chance.

There's something about its critical acclaim, though, that makes it really annoying to me. I've got the same problem with The Wire. I don't know what it is. I call it Field of Dreams Syndrome, but that really only works for me because I've never seen Field of Dreams, I've heard countless people explain how great it is and, as a result, the very thought of it annoys me and I have no desire to see it. I'm sure it's how other people feel about BSG or 30 Rock.

Oooh, I've got this problem with The Sopranos too. I've never seen a single episode and I never, ever want to. One of these days it's going to bother me that I'm leaving such huge gaps in my knowledge of scripted television. But regardless, I find that whenever I have the time to go back and catch up on a show, I always end up wanting to watch something like Supernatural.

Coincidental TV

So after spending Wednesday at an animal neurologist's office and having my cat get an MRI, I found out that she has an inoperable tumor on her pituitary gland that's been affecting her behavior and basic motor functions. This is all very sad and I've spent a number of days being devastated and as of today she's on a medication to attempt to relieve those symptoms so she can live comfortably for a few more months. But that's not the point of this post.

What's weird is that yesterday I watched the shows that I'd Tivoed Tuesday and Wednesday night, Fringe and Bones. Fringe involved a serial killer who cut into women's heads and killed them by removing their pituitary glands. (He needed them to live because he was a mutant person, kind of). Then Bones was about a vet who was killed by a dog, which led them to find out about a dogfighting ring that the vet was trying to expose. Separately, I don't think either show would have been enough to make it feel like a weird coincidence, but the combination veterinarian/pituitary gland thing.... It reminds me of the semester in college where I was taking four completely unrelated classes but at some point during the semester each one referred to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Mulder & Scully and the Rapidly Aging Serial Killer

1.02 "The Same Old Story"

Well, I think I've got a little bit of a case of Bionic Woman. Not quite, but similar. Basically, even though this show definitely has it's faults, I am absolutely not going to be able to stop watching it. And now it's a combination of the opportunity to look at Josh Jackson, and the desire to know what the secret about Peter's health is.

I did notice a couple of interesting things in this episode. The plot was not one of them, but that's not so important. For one thing, it looked like Anna Torv was wearing a wig in about half of her scenes. No telling what that's about. For another, the cutaway shots of Harvard weren't really Yale this time. But I'm not sure they were Harvard either. Another thing is that Olivia and Peter have very quickly fallen into the roles of Mulder and Scully. Olivia is quick to accept any random crazy thing they encounter and Peter is just as quick to start going on about how that thing is "insane." Unfortunately they don't really have the Mulder/Scully sexual tension down just yet, and they're a little bit more bland. On a related note, as soon as they walked into that warehouse thing to catch the bad guy and Olivia pulled out her gun, I started worrying about the fact that Peter didn't have one. I knew that couldn't go on for very long, so I was glad when she handed him her spare. I wonder if he'll just get to have one from now on since he's become her default back up, or if they're going to have to go through elaborate FBI red tape about it for a while.

A quick side note about the plot. I really didn't enjoy seeing things from the bad guy's perspective. It made me feel like I was watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent. And nothing should make me feel that way. That also reminds me, this team does the absolute worst CSI I've ever seen. I guess they make up for it by making everything else really gory. And just one more thing about the plot. It seems that everyone that Walter has ever worked with is involved in some kind of wrongdoing. At this rate, there won't be a single law abiding science professor left in the Boston area.

The words "myopic" and "highly theoretical" and phrases including the words "experiments I did thirty years ago" have already been used way too frequently for two episodes. I'm really hoping they'll tone that down. Also, there's a tremendous amount of seriousness that I feel is doing the show a disservice. I know they're supposed to be dealing with all kinds of horrific things, but a little bit of humor (other than just Peter's exasperatedly repeating whatever Walter says) would go a long way. Lost is definitely at it's best when the episodes have some humor. That's obviously half the point of Sawyer and the whole point of Hurley. Plus Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are EPing this thing, and they can definitely mix humor with action. They did a fine job of it with Transformers. Granted Transformers did have some substantial plot issues that seem to be present in Fringe as well, but humorous elements make it much easier to overlook that.

Basically this show has a somewhat interesting premise, relatively engaging characters, and very high production value (including kickass intertitles), so if it would just take itself a little bit less seriously it would probably be quite enjoyable.

Pilot review: Knight Rider

I didn't watch the TV movie/backdoor pilot of this last spring. From what I read, it wasn't too good and it was nothing like this current first episode. I don't really know what that means, but here are my thoughts on this episode:

- Justin Bruening (Michael) isn't that interesting.
- The actress playing Sarah, Deanna Russo, is like the mean between Olivia Wilde and Megan Fox.
- Smith Cho! (I knew her in a past life.)
- I feel certain that Paul Campbell could've done better. And why is he playing another character named Billy? Regardless, this is hokey and totally below him.
- Hearing this much of Val Kilmer's voice is really creeping me out.
- I have a really hard time taking Sydney Tamiia Poitier seriously. Particularly as an authority figure.
- Bruce Davison is an amazing scenery chewer. His character also has some impressive Gwen DeMarco skills.

And most importantly, I was so uninterested in the plot of this episode (and the set up for the extended plot of the series) that I spent most of the time looking up and adding in the links above. So luckily I'm not going to have to keep up with this show.

Pilot review: Privileged

Eh.

I was really only watching this for Michael Cassidy. And he was a little disappointing. He was pretty much just the typical morally superior childhood friend. A regular Joey Potter, minus all the whining and self-pitying. Damned Hidden Palms had quite an effect on me. I really got into Michael Cassidy as the bad boy, or at least the creepy morally ambiguous guy. It was campy and fun.

The show isn't unenjoyable. But mainly because the lead actress,...(looking up her name)...Joanna Garcia, is carrying the whole thing on charming quirkiness. Maybe if Gossip Girl gets to be too much for me, or not enough, I suppose, I'll switch over to this show. Otherwise, I don't think I care enough to spend the time.

And what was the deal with the all girl-fronted indie rock soundtrack? It was more than a little distracting. Mainly because it seemed to stop and start at random intervals with no regard for the tone of the scene, the uncompleted dialog, the general volume of the rest of the show. Maybe every CW show gets sent to the same post production outfit for "finishing" and it all comes out looking and sounding about the same.

Pilot review: Do Not Disturb

This was painfully unfunny. I expected more from Jerry O'Connell and Niecy Nash. The only remotely amusing part was Gus, the bellboy, played by James Franco's brother Dave. And that's probably only because I appreciate super-dry delivery (even when unintentional) and he reminds me of both Kyle Gallner and Will Rothhaar.

Oh, God, was this really directed by Jason Bateman?!? So sad. So, so sad. Anyway, I was going to say I give this show 5 episodes, max, but then I realized that 'til Death has lasted more than a season on FOX. So who knows.

Pilot review: Fringe

This show was fun. Olivia is likeable. Walter is likeable. Whatever Joshua Jackson's character's name is is likeable. (But how did I watch the whole hour and a half long episode and not catch his name? And now I've looked it up so I know it's Peter.) The plot was intense at the right moments and playful and fun at the right moments. Eh, who am I kidding. I just liked staring at Josh Jackson.

But seriously, there was some contrived dialog and there were some predictable situations. But it was a satisfactory story and conclusion. The characters are all quirky, but not to the point of annoyance. Olivia could maybe stand to have a little bit more personality. Maybe a characteristic other than just "determined" would be good. But Anna Torv is charming enough that it's not too much of a problem. I think I'd be perfectly content to watch these characters regularly without having a tangled and confusing plot that I had to watch every episode just to have a mild grasp of.

The "science" is insane. (And how many times can Pacey...uh, I mean Peter, exclaim that something is "INSANE"?) It's a little annoying that they even refer to it as science. Well, maybe it's not. I guess if I consider the show science fiction, which I should, then it's fine for them to refer to the fictional science. Because it isn't quite fantasy. Or if the abilities and situations are, the tone of the show isn't. And that's what's actually important.

A couple more things. The person I was watching it with and I were discussing from the very beginning whether Olivia's boyfriend/fellow FBI agent was going to turn out to be evil or dead by the end of the episode. And he was both. So that was fun. Also, it's really annoying that the show isn't shot in Boston. For some reason there were shots of Yale that were being used for Harvard. And I think I'd read that some combination of Toronto and either Montreal or New York were being used for Boston. Not cool.

Okay, that's all. I'm not going to get into "The Pattern" and what that means and what the overarching storyline might be like. As I said, the characters are entertaining enough so far. I'll be watching again next week. Score 1 for Fall 2008.

Pilot review: 90210

This was kind of a two episodes in one thing. I missed the first 20 minutes of the first episode, so I watched the last 40 minutes of it then watched the first ten minutes of the second episode. And by that point I'd had enough. For one thing, there's way too much singing and music. Also, there seemed to be way to many characters and it was really hard keeping all of their issues straight. And, most importantly, none of the characters were really drawing me in enough to care about them...except for Jenny Garth, weirdly. And it was nice to see Jessica Walter being almost Lucille Bluth again.

I'll admit my complete lack of interest could be related to the fact that I missed the beginning of the show...but I don't really think so. This is no Gossip Girl, and it's certainly no The O.C. So I think this is the end of me and the new 90210.