COWBOY PETE’S TV ROUNDUP, PART ONE

I’ve added two series to the round-up, by popular demand: “Charmed” and “Tru Calling.” Problem is, even with the extended text option, it’s getting unwieldy. So I’m splitting them over two entries to simplify life. This section contains “Charmed,” “Alias,” a brief mention of “Tarzan,” and “Smallville.” The second section has “Angel,” “West Wing,” and “Tru Calling.”

And for those folks who want it even more broken up or no spoilers or whatever…sorry, guys. Either you can read it or–if you’re concerned about spoilers–don’t read it. It’s called freedom of choice. Choosing what you wish to see or not see. Remember that it’s what makes America great…because not everybody does.

CHARMED: Ah, Paige…her heart’s in the right place, but her brain is somewhat south of that. Determined to save an innocent who’s already dead, she makes a deal with Holtz from Angel that nearly costs her both body and soul. Meanwhile Leo and Chris have a bogus journey, wandering on prehistoric terrain previously trod by Bill and Ted (and Kirk and the Gorn before that.) I’m just guessing here, but I think the Charmed folks thought Brian Krause (Leo) was going to be departing the end of last season…and then he didn’t. It no longer makes sense that Leo and Piper aren’t together since he’s around as much as before, if not more. Chris’s motives remain an annoying seesaw mystery and there’s no clear big bad, but who cares? You watch Charmed for the sister’s interaction, and it’s worth the investment of time. Also, I think Piper has the best diction of any character on TV. Every word is crisp, every sound enunciated. You don’t see that so much anymore.

ALIAS: I get the sense that things are being set up…but I’m fuzzy as to what they are. We get the return of fake Marcie, which is fine because, frankly, Sark is boring the crap out of me. I miss the crackling chemistry and quadruple crosses of the Syd’s dad/Syd’s mom/Sloane triangle of last year. Vaughn’s wife appears to be registering Syd as a threat, and she’s probably right. She’s rebound girl and she knows it. Meanwhile the Covenant continues to be a catch-all, nebulous evil organization of little interest. Can we PLEASE put a human face to them?

TARZAN: Okay…has anyone actually called him “Tarzan?” Why, for that matter, IS he Tarzan? Basically it’s “Beauty and the Beast,” except he’s prettier than she is.

SMALLVILLE: A truly great origin is rooted in simplicity. Young Bruce Wayne sees his parents gunned down and decides to fight crime by dressing as a bat (I said simple, not necessarily sane.) The last survivor of a dead world is rocketed to Earth, found and raised by a Kansas couple, and becomes his new world’s greatest defender. The problem with simplicity is that there’s a temptation to “clutter the myth.” The simplicity becomes, not a strength, but a tempting easel to scribble upon. Which is how you wind up with Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, Supergirl, Kandor, and Krypto. In this week’s episode, “1961,” “Smallville” begins to fall prey to that. Personally, I’d have been happy never to refer to those dámņëd cave drawings again, but now it appears they’re rooted in some sort of “rite of passage” that had Jor-El and God knows who else swinging by Earth, and by the way, Jor-El may have “chosen” the Kents. Huh? The purity of the Superman origin is that Kal-El was basically a Hail Mary pass from a planet that was going buh-bye. Now it appears Clark’s arrival may have been decades in the making, and that Jor-El was aiming Clark right at the Kents themselves…which makes you wonder why he didn’t land the kid right in their back yard rather than the middle of a field where anyone could have found him. It creates more problems than it solves, attempts to explain that which doesn’t need explaining, and clutters the myth. “1961” was well-written and well-acted, and boy was the love scene steamy, but I’m not lovin’ the concept.