Talkin' TV

So we're a few weeks into the new TV season, and NBC's Chuck is one of my favorite new shows. And as much as I enjoy it, I have one problem with it. Every episode has to deal with the same basic theme, that someone shows up, tells Chuck that he can't trust Casey or Sarah, he treats them strangely because he's not trusting them, he saves the day, he trusts them again. You'd think that he knows that he can't really trust them, what with the whole them being spies thing, but that doesn't seem to click with them. So other than this one little issue, I really like this show. Not enough to watch it when it airs live instead of watching How I Met Your Mother, but enough to go out of my way to find a way to watch it.

Speaking of the gang at MacLaren's, this season started out kind of slow, but it's getting better, and thank god, because otherwise I'd be worried. Last week's episode, How I Met Everyone Else, was the tightest of the season. My brother and I have a theory that the episodes written by Gloria Calderon Kellett are going to be awesome (we have some proof on this, the episodes that we've enjoyed the most (Slap Bet, Showdown, The Duel, and First Time in New York) have her listed as the writer on IMDb, plus we generally know when her episodes are going to air because we read Sheldon, a webcomic written by her husband Dave Kellett pretty religiously, which is how we came up with this wacky theory in the first place. Wow, I'm really going off on a tangent in this here parenthesis, aren't I?).

So I'm watching the Big Bang Theory. It's funny, much like Two and a Half Men is funny, but this has jokes that I get and find funnier than the rest of my family, so that's a fun change on TV. Nothing to really bend over backwards to watch over here, but still, good fun.

Heroes is killing me. I loved last season (except for the season finale), but this season has been really lackluster. Even my favorite girl detective can't save it, and it hurts. I don't care about the new characters, there are too many plotlines flying around, and I want more Hiro, I don't care if you have to transport the whole show back to then, but make him interact with Ando, that was the best part of last season. The show is banking too much on the loyalty of the geeks who watch it, and while we'll probly stick around, we're not going to be quiet about it. And can they kill off some characters soon please? I haven't seen this week's, but I don't care about Alejandro and Maya. For the love of Scotty, I'm watching TV, I don't want to read, I understand that they're not in America, but help a multitasker out. I'll be watching and then they'll start jabbering off in spanish and I'll have to try to figure out what it is they're talking about from context clues. It's TV, not the SAT's, you know?

House, is well House, nothing new there other than he's playing elimidate with like 40 people for 3 jobs. And I don't really care who gets the jobs, because I liked the old team. But I'm still gonna watch, because Hugh Laurie is excellent in this, and his interaction with Robert Sean Leonard (the guy who plays Wilson) is the best thing on the show. It's basically what keeps me returning to watch from week to week. And for the love of the Flying Spagetti Monster, will someone please find a way to keep Kal Penn off of this show? He's all smug and douchebaggy and makes me want to break my TV, and he's not even a good actor. What do I have to do to get the Mormon guy, #12 and cutthroat bitch as the new team? Because that would be all kinds of awesome.

The Office is getting better now that they are moving away from hour long episodes. It felt like they were trying to strech what would've been a good half hour episode into a full hour, and it wasn't really working. I still have a few problems, like Michael's getting dumber and dumber. I think Jim and Pam together is okay, but they have to keep it interesting. Look at a show like Cheers, the best episodes were when Sam was chasing Diane or Rebecca, not when they were happy and in a relationship and what have you.

30 Rock is the most utterly ridiculous/awesome show on TV. Alec Baldwin is the best, I don't care that he's not a good father. Him playing Tracey's parents and their elderly neighbor last week had me howling. It was the bestest. Having Liz get fired along with Carrie Fischer, then have her realize what happened, and end the whole sequence with Fischer going "Help me Liz Lemon, you're my only hope!" had me rolling. I'm amazed my roommates don't try to have me committed or something.

Friday Night Lights is one of the best shows on TV that I don't think anyone is watching. There's been some strange character development this season, *cough*Landry*cough.* But it's still early, so this should hopefully get a lot better. I think I'm an episode or two behind, so I'm gonna have to hustle to catch up.

Reaper has been neat, but if they stick to this whole monster of the week format, I think they're gonna have problems in the future. The show reminds me of a combination of Ghostbusters and Buffy. The Buffy thing is obvious, except for the lack of overall character development and a tight knit family growing because of the fighting the monster of the week (but the show's only aired six episodes so I'll back off on that criticism). The Ghostbuster stuff is kind of obvioius, what with them using different vessels to capture the escaped souls, like the Ghostbusters using a trap and the proton packs to rid the city of evil. Only instead of a city, it's a suburb, so it's kind of structurally different, as it were.

Scrubs is still Scrubs, funny and what not, but at times bothersome, but it's been like that since it started, so all is well there. I'm not down with this slow start, but hopefully it'll pick up fast enough that this won't be too much of a problem

I like Dirty Sexy Money and Life, but I'm generally doing work then, so it's kind of tough to watch it when I'm trying to make sure that I've got stuff done for Thursday classes. But I have enjoyed what I've seen of them, DSM being light and fun and Life being all quirky and procedural.

The Bionic Woman had/has so much potential, but it keeps turning cartoony, and it's hurts, because I want it to be good, but it's not, you know? But Michelle Ryan is so very pretty, so that kind of takes some of the sting off of the awful of the show.

I love Dexter more than a fat kid loves cupcakes. It's so funny, and violent, and strange, and they talk of delicious food (that might be my mind thinking of the book). Michael C Hall is brilliant as the titular serial killer, and the rest of the cast is a delight to watch at work.

This season of Doctor Who was good. I didn't really like Martha as a companion at first, but she grew on me. The final few episodes with the Master, and the really old Doctor, and Jack getting killed every now and then was fantastic. The whole set up to the finale was super and I'm pissed I only get US TV.

Elizabeth Weir, Ph. D.: You destroyed three-quarters of a solar system!
Dr. Rodney McKay: Five-sixths, but it's not an exact science.
~Stargate Atlantis