Interesting week. Spoilers throughout.
ALIAS: Syd’s dad bends (okay, breaks) rules to protect his daughter. Very commendable. Very illegal. And you just *know* that he’s not going to be able to keep a lid on it forever. Why do I have the feeling that it’s going to be Sloane who is somehow going to blow the whistle on him? Or, worse, get wind of it and endeavor to blackmail Jack somehow. Meanwhile it was interesting watching Syd and Vaughn endeavoring to work as a team again with the heightened tension between them. But hey, maybe blowing stuff up is even better than sex. I am so along for the ride for this one.
SMALLVILLE: The Kryptonite bullet sequence was harrowing; it’s shocking to see Clark that vulnerable and his poor parents freaking out. Interesting that we’re now starting to see the beginnings of Lex’s megalomania, and where it’s coming from is *extremely* disturbing. Consider: Where it seems they’re saying is that Lex’s eventual sense of destiny, dominance, and power-sucking ego stems from the fact that Clark has saved him so many times. Clark is basically creating his own worst enemy simply by doing what comes naturally. In saving him, he’s dámņìņg him. How stupendously twisted is *that*?
ANGEL: The second episode nicely reinforces that Angel is the lead of the show as Spike pulls a fast fade while Doctor Flox, out of his Enterprise make-up, betrays a werewolf. Okay, kids, here’s a tip: NEVER betray a werewolf. It just always ends badly. It took some truly demented writing minds to come up with the notion of a gourmet club that eats supernatural beasts. It’s like that movie “The Freshman” by way of “Twin Peaks.” I sure didn’t see it coming, so hats off. As for Spike, it’s starting to look like the Casper act is only temporary. It’ll be interesting to see if the rumors about Spike winding up human (and the first male slayer!) turn out to be right in the end after all.
WEST WING: I missed the first few minutes thanks to a VCR snafu. But it’s pretty obvious that the show has completely lost its focus since Sorkin left. The characters are unrecognizable as themselves. Literally. I didn’t know who any of them were. In fact, it looked like a totally different set of actors. Even the White House didn’t look right. I guess the lighting has gotten just that bad. None of the characters sounded remotely right. And there was no intense political infighting or strategies. Instead the whole thing played like a crime show or something. Perhaps it wasn intended as a back-door pilot or something, but frankly, I just didn’t get it at all. Sorkin’s absence is sorely felt.
PAD
• 
SMALLVILLE:
Really Good episode!
I remember how, in an episode from last season in which Clark asked Chloe and Lana separately how they’d react if they found out he was an alien, Chloe said it would be cool, and Lana said she might be uncomfortable, and how one or more of the posters at nitcentral, where I like to post, reacted by saying that Clark should be with the cool Chloe, and not Lana. I can imagine what their reaction is to the really meaty dialogue in this episode in which Lana talks about people affected by meteor rocks. Thing is, Clark reacted like she was condemning all such people, and tells her that she shouldn’t take it out on someone just because they were affected by meteors, even though she didn’t say she did. She made it clear early in the episode that her problem was with what some of the people she mentioned did with their powers once they got them. I can imagine, however, that some will take umbrage with her comment that life would be a lot better if the meteor shower never happened. Then again, I wonder how these people feel about Chloe initially deciding to inform on Clark for Lionel Luthor, even if she eventually changed her mind.
Speaking of which, I’m glad that Chloe gave a more detailed explanation to Lionel Luthor as to why she changed her mind about doing research on Clark than what we got in the last two episodes.
Lionel’s gambit with Chloe and the computers he donated to the school? NIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!
Miscellaneous Stuff:
When saving Lex from Van, Clark knows that the sniper is watching the area that he’s standing, yet he clearly holds the bullet he caught up for the sniper to see it, and even DROPS it at the crime scene, leaving evidence that it hit something. DUMB, CLARK, REALLY DUMB!
Melting rocks into bullets using just a campfire flame? I don’t think so. They did a much better job last season in Witness, in which the crooks used it as an inhalant, because in that episode, they correctly used a furnace to melt it.
So now the third episode of the third seasons of both Smallville and Enterprise is named Extinction. Aren’t there any original ideas left?
Did the kryptonite bullet fragment when it hit Clark? It was hard to tell from the shot of the bullet that Jonathan pulled out of Clark’s shoulder, but if it didn’t, Clark is lucky, or else he might’ve ended up with countless particles of kryptonite in his bloodstream and tissue, where it might’ve killed him.
Okay, first of all, you need a TiVo.
Secondly, I’m with you on Alias. GOD is that show great at reinventing itself! Although, wasn’t Vaughn supposed to be confined to desk duty for a while? So much for that. And is it too early to start Sydney/Greg Grunberg ‘shipping? Or have I already missed the boat?
Smallville — at least the characters are acting significantly less like total idiots this week. Previously, on Smallville: Clark willfilly putting on the red ring, knowing he will rob and hurt innocent people? Pa Kent accepting superpowers from Jor-El in exchange for who-knows-what, instead of simply exposing Clark to green kryptonite long enough to remove the ring? Clark letting Rutger Hauer witness his biggest and only weakness? (Dude, it’s RUTGER HAUER. You do NOT expose your weakness to RUTGER FRICKIN’ HAUER.) Lex and his make believe twin??? Yikes, was that a horrible beginning to the season. This episode makes up for SOME of that. Some, not all.
Angel — liking it, not loving it like I did last year. The Spike the Friendly Ghost business is getting boring real fast.
West Wing — I’m about one week away from deleting this from my TiVo Season Pass list. Bring back John Goodman!
Luigi Novi: “I can imagine, however, that some will take umbrage with her comment that life would be a lot better if the meteor shower never happened.”
Well, her parents did DIE in the meteor shower, so I imagine Clark (and the viewers) will cut her a hefty piece of slack for that statement.
What’s up with NBC… Especially “West Wing”!?!
I know when Aaron Sorkin left and all the Supporting Actors got yet another per episode raise… That something else (other than Rob Lowe) would have to go… But bringing in Vincent D’Onofrio to play THREE different roles on the same show?!? Don’t you think that’s asking too much of even this talented actor?
It all seemed far too schizophrenic and over the top for me.
One minute Vincent’s glaring and acting passive/aggressive (like President Bartlet)… and the next minute he’s withdrawn and stammering incoherently before he says anything substantial (just like Tobey) and then he starts yelling off the hook for no apparent reason (just like Josh)!
I kept expecting him to jump on Air Force One and start shoving people off in mid-flight screaming, “Get off of my plane!”
Wow. I hope NBC comes to their senses and hires the old “West Wing” actors back again in time for next week’s “all new” episode… Just like they did on “Friends” tonight!
I turned on the TV and saw all of my old favorites again… And amazingly– they looked just like they did 2 or 3 or more years ago… When they were still young, cute, talented and not coasting!
But I’ve got to admit I’m glad they are ending “Friends” this year! That episode I saw tonight seemed like a carbon copy of an episode I saw just a few years ago!
I got so depressed, I couldn’t bear to watch the All New “Will & Grace” and “ER” either. And that special new episode of “Whoopi” (where the George W. clone stops by to use her “can”) reminded me of something I turned off just TWO days ago!!
What is TV coming to?!
Wait, when did they show “West Wing”? When I tuned in they were showing “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”??? Or is that why D’Onofrio is being mentioned??? (Who’s know-it-all character annoys me btw, however rugged the man may be)
And while I’m at it,
Please tell me WHY we have so dámņ many different versions of “L & O” on TV anyway???
Oh and I for one am snickering at NBC over the entire much hyped, but horrendously hideous must see TV (rolling my eyes) newbie “Coupling”. I mean, C’mon, give us a break! Yank it for good or let us see the british version!!!
Signed,
One Woman Longing For Something Original/and Or Innovative To Watch
Umm…yeah. I tuned into see this week’s episode of the West Wing Wednesday, but merely saw a rerun of Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
Did I miss something?
As for ALIAS, I’m still trying to get my bearings. The show is entirely different, and I keep hoping for the writers to pick up on the threads of the past couple of seasons and begin to show signs that there is a plan.
Like, why did Syd’s mom tell her she was “chosen”? Where does Rimbaldi fit in? Peace? That’s it? Can’t be.
D’oh!
I just figured it out.
Very clever review of “The West Wing,” PAD. If only I’d been astute enough to get the joke.
Move along, people. Nothing to see here. 🙂
Well, shoot, ya got me! dangit, OBVIOUSLY, I’m too DIM to appreciate Original and Innovative, anyway…
sigh
Smallville: Definitely getting the show back on track since they had to clean up last season’s fallout. It’s nice to that the show can both move on from the Green K Mutant of the week story and still acknowledge the idea. The idea that Luthor is starting to blelieve that he is indestructable is great. He’s development into the villain he will one day become continues to be the most fascinating aspect of the show. Chloe has discovered that it’s easy to make a deal with deal but never easy to get out of it. And Lana kicks butt again, but how come there’s no mention of her killing that guy from last week? One thing that is getting tiresome: Ending the show with Lana trying to get Clark to open up, he stays quiet and she just walks/rides/drives away.
Angel: Werewolf tartar? Ewwwww! Bizarre twist. I really liked that way that Angel empathized with the idea of having a monster inside and this episode illustrated how useful the resources of W&H can be if put to good use. Since I don’t watch Entercrap, my first thought when I saw the werewolf expert was “Hey everyone! He’s got Koomes with him!” I’m glad the Spike the friendly ghost thing is only temporary, but they’ll still need to come up with a reason for Spike to join team Angel. I hope it isn’t any of that “male slayer nonsense.”
The best part, though, was Lorne warning Angel not to forget about his friends and Angel actually heeding it. Angel always does need that occassional nudge to keep himself for slipping over the edge. One problem though: Last season, we saw a spell that neutralized Lorne’s powers, now we see that there’s a drug that can do it as well. How useful is Lorne going to be if his main contribution to TA is constantly being circumvented?
Smallville is not necessarily the DCU Superman. We know Clark will become the Big S, and there is a prediction from the first season of Lex bringing death and destruction. But S-ville Lex is at his core a noble guy who wants to do the right thing. Maybe he will become the “villianous arch foe – Lex Luthor” or maybe not.
Or maybe like GWB, his limited world view will cause him to make disasterous decisions for what he thinks are righteous reasons.
Actually, the werewolf entree in Angel reminded me of a Mark Millar Swamp Thing episode which used something of the same theme….
Angel…
Overall I liked the werewolf cutey story (a potential date for Angel?)
One thing bothered me though. With all the resources of W&G at their disposal, and with knowing the folks who kidnapped the werewolf were sort of para-military. Why did they go in with only the Angel gang, no back-up!
Also Angel gives them Floxx to eat and walks out? Angel doesn’t just walk away from bad guys and yes, Gunn threw in a line at the end about the gourmet group being “taken care of”. But it just seemed like sloppy writing to me.
SMALLVILLE: A decent episode. The nicest surprise: Lex Luthor thinking that HE might be Superman! (Or *a* superman, at any rate.) Reminded me a bit of UNBREAKABLE, with Lex realizing he’d never been sick. I wonder if Lionel’s running the medical tests on Lex (the appointment with the doctor he made early in the show) to use Lex’s apparent immunity to disease to help Lionel.
I liked seeing the look of surprise on Clark’s face when catching the bullet — something he’s done dozens of times — didn’t work out nearly as well as he expected.
And Lionel Luthor’s handling of Chloe was quite Machiavellian. While his threatening Chloe if she investigated any Luthor might seem paternal, that also protects Lionel: He’s a Luthor, and if Lex is working for/with him, an investigation of Lex could come back to haunt Lionel.
Some downsides. It looks like they’re back to having Clark and Lana exchanging pained looks of longing, Clark aaaaalmost telling her, and Lana wandering off again. I don’t expect them to get married — that’ll happen with Lois — but get them together for a little while at least!
Also, when Clark showed his bulletproof vest, I was reminded of the scene in DUMB & DUMBER where one character shows his vest, and the other asks “But what if they shot you in the head?” and the first one is quiet. Why was Lana a helpless kidnappee until Clark showed up, at which point she became a kickbozing expert again? Also, this is a continuing problem/issue with Clark/Superman: If he is really faster than a speeding bullet, can’t he disarm or knock out most of these baddies before they can even blink?
Now I wonder when Lex will wear a green and purple outfit…
Ðámņ; I hate having to work; I missed them all…
>Okay, kids, here’s a tip: NEVER betray a werewolf. It just always ends badly.<
Like Willow betrayed Oz.
–your pal, Hoy
ANGEL: They ruined Lorne’s character by making him a regular. I miss the amoral, mysterious Host (in fact, I think the problems began when we learned his name). As a regular, he’s too powerful, so we wind up with constant hand-waving like the spell last season and the drug this season.
So, valium can help you pass a lie detector test? No wonder those things don’t hold up in court.
Spike is a waste. It’s a shame that they ruined the potential development from his gaining a soul in order to revert to the “leather” and “attitude” that female fans love so much.
SMALLVILLE: It’s nice to see the friction in the Lana/Clark relationship. By that, I mean, Clark’s blaming himself for the loss of Lana’s parents and for the subsequent lunatics who popped up since.
I also liked his “not completely a lie” lie (“I wasn’t infected by the meteor rocks”).
Lionel and Lex continue to be the best things about the show. Just when I considered Lionel not completely evil (his not being involved in Lex’s near death), he blackmails a *high school student.* That’s low. Of course, later he reveals geniune concern for Lex. What a complicated character! Almost Shakespearan in a way.
What I like about Lex is that while we know he’s going to turn evil, he’s not played as a “bad guy waiting to happen.” We really buy his relationship with Clark. Their reunion last episode was heartbreaking not just in how affecting it was (you could tell these two people really cared about each other) but in how it was going to turn out. If only the Star Wars prequels were this good.
On more thing:
Lionel Luthor reminds me more of the current DCU Luthor (especially the early John Byrne version). That Luthor was incapable of friendship with anyone — even as a kid. SMALLVILLE’s Luthor is very pre-Crisis, which Grant Morrison recalled in “Rock of Ages” (“I know there’s good in you, Lex.”). This seems a more fitting arch-foe for Superman. Batman can have the hopelessly insane and irredeemably evil. Superman represents all that’s great about us, and I don’t think he would have a Batman/Joker relationship with his greatest foe. No, I think he would be disappointed that someone with such talent and genius (Lex) had gone in the wrong direction. This is how I see the SMALLVILLE Superman and Luthor relationship developing.
Angel:
The only thing I didn’t like about this issue was the “changed premises” with Werewolves. In order to make the whole Werewolves-as-a-delicacy thing more horific, (and to leave room for a more dramatic last-minute rescue) they made the comment that if a werewolf is killed, he reverts to human form. However, Werewoves were introduced in the BTVS episode with a hunter that collected the pelts by killin them with silver bullets. He didn’t tranquilize them and then skin them alive. (Though, come to think of it, with a Werewolf’s ability to heal, I wonder if this would be a possible way to collect up to a couple new pelts a month.)
“Also, when Clark showed his bulletproof vest, I was reminded of the scene in DUMB & DUMBER where one character shows his vest, and the other asks “But what if they shot you in the head?””
My take on that scene was that, even in front of Lana, Clark could have made very subtle moves at super-speed in order to ensure that the bullets struck the lead, or missed his head entirely if necessary.
One thing I found especially interesting about how Angel handled the whole werewolf thing was that he didn’t pull the “hey, look at my vamp-face, I’m a monster too, it’s OK” cliche. Nice to see the writer avoided that.
Spike is a waste. It’s a shame that they ruined the potential development from his gaining a soul in order to revert to the “leather” and “attitude” that female fans love so much.
We’ve seen like 3 or 4 episodes thus far this season. Give Joss Whedon some time and a little credit. Relax and don’t condemn the writers before the ride is over. There’s like 18-19 episodes to turn everything around. The same goes for the bashers of any other show that has just begun its season.
I said get A TiVo because of your “VCR snafu” with West Wing. I hadn’t watched my TiVoed West Wing, so I didn’t even realize you were making a joke.
Never mind.
Still, you really SHOULD get a TiVO, if you don’t have one.
re: Smallville. I had pushed the “next episode” teaser out of my mind, so the twist on the “Monster of the Week” motif caught me by total suprise. In a good way. Also in a good way, I loved how quickly Lionel turned the conversation around on Chloe at the end. She went from idignant to guilty to scared very quickly, but in a way that was totally believable. (On the detracting note, I blinked and missed the week’s “Pete” scene. Anyone else notice (or care) that out of all the people in Clark’s life, his reaction to Clark returning to Smallville was glossed over entirely?)
ok, Smallville first, I’ve been watching it more since it is on before Angel.
Am I the only one who caught the name of Chloe’s browser on her computer?
Starrware Systems something or other.
This is yet another hint that there IS a DC universe out there in the Smallville universe with other heroes..but while the prospect of possibly seeing other heroes is interesting I find I’m oddly shocked in feeling that I’m not sure if I want the show to go in that direction.
Angel
Like Willow betrayed Oz.
–your pal, Hoy
um hold on a minute, I think that’s the other way around. Oz bailed on her not knowing whether he’d ever come back. He wasn’t all sympathetic with “wait for me I’ll come back to you in “XX” months.
yes he did have major issues but it all boils down to he bailed on her first.
When she realized he wasn’t coming back and later found Tara that wasn’t betrayal, that was just bad timing or bad luck.
While I like having “Blondie Bear” around, the Casper thing is sort of fading on me (pun intended).
I do think part of Angel’s problem is that he feels put out that he isn’t unique “Vampire with a soul”
like when the wolf-girl (she seems too well laid out a character to be a one-shot I expect her to probably join the cast or be recurring the whole season) asked if he liked being a vampire, the hesitation itself leads one to believe that he’s adjusted more than maybe even he realizes….and along comes Spike all Soul having…
Even in the flashbacks it was always a rivalry between Anjelus and Spike.
I think Spike feels it too, what about all that bluster about Angel living the high life in the penthouse, Angel’s comments about how it only took Spike a few weeks in a basement rather than years on the streets to adjust (They both had to be “slapped” out of if you’ll remember..who knows how long spike would have been like that if not for buffy and the scoobies? or if someone like whistler had come Angel years earlier?).
You could see it again in spikes eyes as he was describing the horrible fight he once had with a werewolf and was told Angel killed one with a pen.
Maybe Angel and Spike will come to terms during whatever ordeal they go through to “save” spike.
Maybe he’ll stick around just because he has nowhere better to be?
The changed premises of the werewolf is more in keeping with conventional werewolf legend (the wolf reverts to his human form once he’s been killed).
Also, a werewolf is practically unkillable in human form (he or she might appear dead but would just return as a wolf). He has to be killed while an animal, which makes things difficult.
Peter,
C’mon, why no Enterprise review?
Its getting better this season. Really. Well, kinda. That song is aweful.
um hold on a minute, I think that’s the other way around. Oz bailed on her not knowing whether he’d ever come back. He wasn’t all sympathetic with “wait for me I’ll come back to you in “XX” months.
Yes, but before that, she betrayed him by getting all lip-locky with Xander when Spike had them locked up in the old factory. This was also the event that broke up Xander & Cordelia and set up the introduction of Anya.
Of course Oz eventually forgave her and they got back together, but they she did betray him first.
Smallville:
I think if the writers are determined to keep Lana and Clark apart they should focus less on the back and forth between them and more on what was said in this episode: “We’d all be better off if the meteor shower never happened.” Never mind keeping his powers secret from the world (because of all his friends, Lana is the one person he SHOULD trust). How can Clark ever open up to her when his very existence caused the death of her parents?
Regarding Angel and werewolves: For continuity conscious folks concerning the Buffy werewolves, there was a throwaway line that this was a ‘rare breed’ of werewolf. Perhpas this breed has the instant reversion ability or something.
…and the dining club really reminded me of something. It seems like I’ve seen that before somewhere in a book or movie. Perhaps not dining on werewolves, but something very similar.
Den wrote: “how come there’s no mention of [Lana] killing that guy from last week?”
Probably because she didn’t kill him; he fell back and was impaled on a pitchfork.
Sometimes they tie up loose ends in the Smallville Ledger. There’s an article about it here:
http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/smallville/ledger/article.jsp?id=sv_vol66_iss03_4
As for Spike, it’s starting to look like the Casper act is only temporary. It’ll be interesting to see if the rumors about Spike winding up human (and the first male slayer!) turn out to be right in the end after all.
Nah. First male Slayer with be Andrew (if only to pìšš øff Giles).
Speaking of which, PAD, you ever gonna do a Buffy novel?
On more thing:
Am I the only one who can’t even go near that sentence without hearing it in the voice of Uncle (from Jackie Chan Adventures?
Oh, and thanks for the link, Steve.
Now, guess I’d better start collecting Angel Transcripts…
Probably because she didn’t kill him; he fell back and was impaled on a pitchfork.
But she did kill in him self defense, as it says in the Ledger. What I’m looking for is some sign that Lana was affected by this. Being responsible for another person’s death, even justifiably, is a heavy experience and most people experience at least some emotional fallout from it. Here, Lana is acting like it never happened.
So Spike doesn’t want Wesley to help Fred find out to make him tangible again. Could it be that their is something magical about him or his situation that he is afraid Wesley might find out about?
Next week involves Spike and an 18th century doctor who may or may not be Jack the Ripper. One of the latest Buffy novels has Spike, Angelus, and Dru set in the 1800s involving Jack the Ripper. I haven’t read the book yet but I think they may have been claiming that Jack was a minion of The First similar to Caleb.
I’m still waiting for an explanation about THE WEST WING…I saw the same LAW & ORDER episode that others here have mentioned. Did the episode air on the East Coast? What gives?
There was no West Wing on Wednesday night. That might explain why PAD was so confused about the episode! 🙂 (By the way, people, re-read what PAD wrote very carefully.)
ok quick question, why didnt clark hear the kid cocking the rifle, and if he sees things in slow motion when using his speed, didnt he notice the bright green glowof the meteor rock bullet? I think they should have shown the kid painting the bullets…..it whould have made more sense!
ok quick question, why didnt clark hear the kid cocking the rifle
Because his super-hearing power has not manifested yet. Rumor has it that they’re going to introduce it in a future episode these season, much they way they did for X-ray vision and heat vision.
For those of you who are saying that last night’s “All-New” Friends seemed like a copy of an episode done a few years ago, you’re right. But only because it was a rerun. NBC has been showing reruns the past few days because of Baseball andd all the new episodes will start next week.
Smallville: Lex has never been sick a day in his life (since the meteor shower)? I guess in the delirium and all, he must have forgotten about just recently having malaria.
…and the dining club really reminded me of something. It seems like I’ve seen that before somewhere in a book or movie. Perhaps not dining on werewolves, but something very similar.
The Freshman, starring Marlin Brando and Mathew Broderick
The Spike the Friendly Ghost business is getting boring real fast.
The usual Buffy/Angel plotting has a sub-plot being resolved (or twisted) after about four episodes. I figure we’ve got about two more episodes of Spike the Not-So-Friendly Ghost before something else is done with him.
Will be interesting to see how they integrate him with the main cast. They jumped through hoops justifying his presense during Buffy Season Four, and it never did make complete sense. My theory is that Spike will be ready to run out the door when he becomes coporeal, but by then Angel will realize how useful it is to have someone around who *isn’t* running a department, and will stammer his way through a job offer to Spike (sort of the reverse of Wesley hanging around waiting for Angel to offer him a job in Season One). Spike, which they’ve long ago established is looking for acceptance, will take the job, if only to make snide remarks at Angel… he’d be like a useful Cordelia.
As for the ending of the episode where Angel doesn’t punish the werewolf diners. I would not be surprised if the master plan of the Senior Partners is to eat away at Angel’s moral principals. He’s constantly being put into situations where he has to allow a lesser evil to exist in order to defeat a greater evil. How long before he stops looking for the good, and taking the easy (and somewhat evil) way out?
So Spike doesn’t want Wesley to help Fred find out to make him tangible again. Could it be that their is something magical about him or his situation that he is afraid Wesley might find out about?
I don’t think Spike likes showing weakness in front of men. Whereas they’ve already established him to be a mama’s boy, who looks to women for comfort and support.
Either that or they’re trying to hook Fred up with every warm (or not-so-warm) body on the show. She started off with the crush on Angel, then Wes developed a thing for her, then Gunn went out with her. Now, they’re throwing in the stuff with Knox, and having Spike hang around her all the time.
Lana’s heartfelt – you can trust me, open up at the end left me thinking – “Why, exactly, doesn’t he just tell her?”
The fun part of Smallville is watching the writers try to think up new ways to get Clark to take off his shirt. I swear I saw Synder feel him up, too. All the WB dramas seem to involve guys taking their shirts off all the time.
Well they do.
BTW, the British version of Coupling is HILARIOUS. I think it’s the new actors.
Sorry if I caused anyone any consternation.
My entire post was meant as a joke… Riffing off PAD’s idea!
It was also a commentary on the sorry state of TV nowadays.
Unfortunately, the idea that NBC would NOT air it’s first run episodes against the baseball playoffs is NOT surprising.
But to do it with little or no advance warning is amateurish at best and extremely disrectful to the network’s loyal audience.
Makes you wonder who is running the NBC Asylum nowadays… Obviously the spineless Programming Chief, Jeff Zucker (who spent all summer hyping “Coupling” to pull it after only 2 episodes), doesn’t think his FIRST RUN programming has what it takes to compete against popular sports programming. Stating they wanted to “save” their first run shows for a less competitive time period just illustrates how weak they think their swiftly aging Thursday shows are.
Note to Jeff: That’s why TIVO’s and VCR’s were invented… So we could watch more than one show airing in the same time period.
Kudos to the Programmers at CBS and ABC, et al… for having backbones and running their new programs and providing us West Coasters (and East Coasters with tapes) with something to watch after the games were over.
A little off subject —
I didn’t know where to put this – wait until the next Star Trek post?? Didn’t know when it would be so….
Stone and Anvil and No Limits arrived at my apt today…
I had ordered them them from Barnes and Noble (gift certficate usage) and to my surprise there was bonus CD-ROM with Stone and Anvil.
What makes this so important is that in Adobe Acrobat Reader Format are all the New Frontier books on this CD. What a wonderful surprise!
Mr. David – I am not sure who’s idea this was – yours, Simon and Schuster and Pocket Books, John Ordover, Paramount…whomever – Thank You! I have all the other books (which you graciously signed for me at Dragon Con) but now I can stop wearing them out when I need something to read.
Re: Alias. Sorry to say, I’m not thrilled with how the two year gap is being handled from a “rational people wouldn’t *do* this” angle.
Let’s consider:
1) Vaughn, for some reason, left the Agency during these two years. For no apparent reason, he decides to return when Sydney comes back. There’s no indication he didn’t enjoy teaching, or had resolved whatever issues caused him to leave in the first place. So why’d he return, and why is the CIA letting him return so easily?
2) Lauren, his wife, is concerned about Vaughn’s attachment to Syd. She’s associated with the NSA. If I were the CIA, I’d be concerned about Vaughn’s attachment to Syd potentially wrecking the careers of three government agents. So, why the heck, other than because the writers want it that way, are the Vaughns stationed in the non-central LA CIA office instead of the home offices in the D.C. area, New York City, Europe, South America, Chicago, etc.?
3) We need surveilence on Sark in Mexico. Hey, let’s send an agent who *Sark has extensive experience with and can recognize on sight*. It’s not even like he’s in LA and Syd’s the only agent in the office.
4) An NSA official can put a CIA agent in total solitary confinement for a year…but then said agent can get released and restored to full security clearance and status five seconds after he’s released.
5) An agent disappears for two years with complete loss of memory. What the heck, let’s trust her completely while we’re at it. And put her out in the field.
6) By this point, given that Dixon’s in charge, Vaughn had quit, Sydney was missing, and Jack was in jail, and there apparently are no other agents in the LA office (see Sark surveilence above), you have to wonder just how much field time Weiss clocked in the last year. Or whether there’s a whole season’s worth of the “Spy Field Agent Misadventures of Marshall and Carrie” to be told.
You guys saw West Wing this week?
In our neck o’ the woods, new NBC & CBS programming was chucked due to the high ratings Fox was getting with baseball. Instead of West Wing on Wednesday night, we got Law & Order: Criminal Intent.
Phooey.
Never mind.
I get it now.
Better late than never.
🙂
Coupla thoughts:
Smallville:
Did anyone catch the look on Lionel’s face when he embraced Lex in the second part of the season opener?
He is clearly not completly comfortable with an aliance with Lex. My suspect Lionel will set Lex up using
medical records to show he is mentally ill. Think about it, Lionel, as Lex’s father could have him committed
and have him out of his hair for good.
Angel:
I don’t think Spike is going to be the Friendly Ghost for very long. Next weeks trailor
looks like they are setting the stage to make him “solid” again. I dunno about Spike
becoming the first “Male Slayer” but I just hope they don’t have that dámņ chip in his head again.
Now that Spike is a regular on the show, We should see some great Spike/Angelus flashbacks which hopefully
will inlcude Dru and Darla (or even the Master). It’s a pity Darla was killed off (again). She and Dru could have
teamed up and been the perfect nemisis for Angel and Spike (who would make better foes than their ex-girlfriends!)
As I’ve said elsewhere, watching The West Wing this season is like someone writing in iambic pentameter and insisting that it’s just like Shakespeare. It’s painful, and I can’t do it anymore, especially with Bravo showing the show at its peak at 11pm Monday to Thursday.
—KRAD