Okay. We’re almost current here at the Round-up as we cover several week’s worth of Charmed and West Wing, and last week’s episode of Smallville. Plus the best single line in a sitcom all year, just as a bonus. Yeeeha.
CHARMED: It’s been three weeks since I’ve written about our three favorite witches, and there’s been a lot going on. The introduction of a magic school (which seems a bit of stretch, even for this show, considering no one’s ever said boo about something that important before, and we’ve seen enough surprised new witches in the series that it seems a little late in the game to bring in the notion that there’s an entire training network. But, hey, whatever), and the revelation that Chris is–as I suspected months ago–an offspring of Piper’s. Originally I thought he was going to turn out to be Wyatt (gone bad), but when word got out of of Combs’ pregnancy, I revised that notion (as I suspect the writers did as well) and speculated that Chris was Wyatt’s kid brother. Which it’s now revealed he is.
What “Charmed” has managed to capture, even more than BtVS did, is the notion of heroes becoming absolutely unflappable in the face of unimaginable circumstances, simply because they’ve survived so much that nothing fazes them. In the Headless Horseman episode, Piper gets her head lopped off (miraculously, her hair remains untouched), and her decapitated noggin lies there on the floor and mutters, “Great. Just great” as if she’d discovered a ketchup stain hadn’t come out of her sweater. When her sisters meet similar fates, they likewise seem more chagrined than anything else. Certainly they’re not freaked about it. In “I Dream of Phoebe,” when Phoebe is transformed into a genie (displaying some serious rock-hard abs), her major complaint is that she’s wearing a blonde wig. That’s part of what makes the series work so well. Encountering insane challenge after insane challenge, the sisters ground us in reality by greeting each obstacle in a matter-of-fact manner. It feels real because they make it real. In the most recent outing, Piper and Leo find themselves trapped in an Ingmar Bergman version of limbo while forces come together to prevent Chris’ conception, and we get a reveal on who the master manipulator behind all the recent evil events is…which should come as a total surprise to anyone who hasn’t given the matter any thought at all, since (barring a shock return of Cole Turner from the land of plastic surgery) there really wasn’t anyone else to be a suspect.
WEST WING–Although it hasn’t reached the heights of the Sorkin era, West Wing has become something it hasn’t been for a while: Watchable. The characters are no longer doing things so out of character that you wonder who these pod people are; someone turned the lights on in the White House so I can actually see what the hëll is going on; and as opposed to obsessing about fictional countries, the Bartlet administration is having to deal with threats posed by Korea and Israel(!?). The nuclear episode underscored some excellent points when one considers the fundamental hypocrisy of the only nation in history ever to have killed people with an A-Bomb going around and telling other countries what to do with their own similar weaponry. Plus we saw the VP used to good effect as, initially dismissed out of hand, he provides key clues as to who has been setting off nuclear weapons. As for the downed pilot episode, well, we’ve seen similar storylines on “West Wing” before. But in the real world, events do repeat themselves, and what distinguished this go-around was the “B” plot in which the normally politically savvy Leo loses all political perspective when it comes to helping the man who saved his life (although the uplighting on Leo in the opening made him look positively satanic.) For me, though, the best part of both episodes was CJ crossing swords with an obnoxious “Hardball”-esque TV pundit, with “Action’s” Jay Mohr perfectly cast. Someone *please* tell me we haven’t seen the end of that subplot. Cj hasn’t had a really good journalistic sparring partner since Danny, who appears to have slipped away into the ozone again aside from a phone message.
SMALLVILLE: Clark meets his apparent soulmate in Alicia, a Kryptonite-created teleporter who is so turned on by young Mr. Kent, she bamfs her way into his bed and comes within a commercial break of making Clark believe he can fly. Pa Kent’s ill-timed entrance naturally prevents Clark from becoming an action hero, although I mentally pictured Pa saying sternly, “Son, we have to talk, come down stairs immediately,” then closing the door and pumping the air in triumphant, “That’s my boy!” manner. that Not since Michael Douglas and Glenn Close has a relationship gone that downhill that fast. Close is actually referenced in the episode, although my daughter Ariel may have picked up on another, even more subtle reference. When Alicia tells Clark that she remembers watching the meteor shower from her porch, and the next thing she knows, she’s in the middle of a cornfield, Clark asks her how she got there. Ariel, without blinking an eye, quipped, “Bill Mumy sent her there.” A mere joke? Initially it seemed so, but later it’s revealed that Alicia uses her power to keep her parents in a state of perpetual terror, very evocative of Mumy’ s Anthony Freemont. So we’re left wondering if the cornfield comment was a nudge nudge wink wink to “It’s a Good Life.” Plus Pete Ross shows up for a scene that played very realistically: Teens have a major blow out, and then start to reconnect through simple, normal interaction. That was nicely done. And although it’s becoming a bit of a drag to learn that Lionel Luthor is, once again, behind every dámņëd thing that goes on in Smallville (including, it seems, Adam Knight), that was one of the more chilling endings.
The only thing that confused me was Alicia’s final fate. Yes, I get that covering her in paint smothered her ability to escape. But are we to assume that it shorted out her powers permanently? Or are her parents gonna shove her back in that room? Or is Clark going to let the sheriff know that’s how her powers are thwarted? In which case, is Alicia going to be blabbing to the sheriff about Clark’s powers, not to mention how Green K affects him? Now maybe these questions are going to be addressed, but it would have been nice if there’d been a hint that they were going to be.
Okay: Best single line I’ve heard all year in a sitcom? Last night’s “Frasier,” in which Dr. Crane re-encounters his first wife, the folk singing Nanny Gee (played to great effect by Emma Thompson originally; played to slightly less effect by Laurie Metcalf this go-around, but only because she suffers in comparison). The frustrated and incredibly horny Nanette (her real name) feels confined by the folksy, child-friendly persona she’s been inhabiting for the last two decades, and conveys that frustration to Frasier by demanding, “Do you know what it’s like to play the same character for TWENTY YEARS?!” Grammer’s reaction was priceless as, for a heartbeat, you wondered if the man who tied James Arness for longevity in portraying a single role was going to break character and say, “I can imagine it, yes.” Wisely, they limited it to his facial reaction.
PAD
• 
How about “Tru Calling”? Have you dropped it from the round-up?
I couldn’t agree more on the sitcom line. An excellent bit a meta. I’m still laughing about it. And then the image of Kelsey Grammar in a diaper pops up…
One of the biggest “willing suspension of disbelief” elements of SMALLVILLE is never wondering how they keep the kryptonite Freaks of the Week under lock and key. Usually Clark beats them, they’re carted off, and that’s the last we hear of them. They also never seem to tell anyone about Clark’s powers. Even if no one else believed them, I’m sure Lex would listen closely.
First off, let me second that vote on the best line in a sitcom. Kelsy Grammar’s expression was priceless. Both my daughter and I just looked at each other and laughed. I’m going to miss Frasier. It is still a good solid show with a great ensemble cast. Even the little details ares so good, as when we see Roz sitting in the audience and her reaction to Frasier dressed as a baby. Oh well.
As for Smallville, one of the things I found amusing was that poor Clark still can’t get laid, in his dreams or in real life. I’m starting to feel sorry for him.
But what I found interesting in the episode were the scenes with Lana. The first was when she stood up to Adam about the journal. She is getting gutsier. The other was in the high school hallway when she tells Clark about Adam’s journal. Clark says he will go talk to Adam. Lana’s immediate reaction was no, she’s having him evicted, etc. Now she doesn’t know his secret, but she does know that he is dámņ good at something. I mean how many times has he saved her? Yet, she rejects his help. Compare this to Pete in Velocity demanding Clark’s help (yes, he knows Clark’s secret, but even if he was only knew as much as Lana I think he still would have demanded it). One of the questions that has to be asked is who can Clark trust with his secret? Perhaps the one person who won’t try to exploit him?
I agree with PAD’s comments about Alicia’s powers. It was left with nothing really being made clear. Did they short out, or did she try to teleport and couldn’t and the poweres remain? I disagree with him about Alicia telling Clark’s secret. For her it is too much of a prize to give up. She’ll keep it and use it when it will work to her advantage. But what about the other FotW, wouldn’t they be shouting it? If enough do shouldn’t someone other then Lionel get suspicious?
My major complaint with the series is the continuity needs more work. This episode was better as in the scene with Pete, but the writers and staff need to work harder on that. For instance, why hasn’t Lana said anything to Chloe about what she found? Chloe was the first one to alert her to Adam. Why not confide in her now about it? It is a plot hole because I’m sure the writers don’t want that since Lana’s response would be who would want to spy on them. To which Chloe might have to admit that she spyed on Clark for Lionel. Which would then make Lana suspicious about Clark’s reasons for keeping his secret, etc.
Not resolving what happens to the FotW is getting kind of old. Granted, they did have the one episode where Lex gets stuck in the looney bin with some of the former FotWs. Our guess on Alicia was that she wound up in a rubber room. Face it, the kid had some issues. With as many issues as she had, no one is likely to listen much to her assertations. Lionel has enough interesting dirt on Clark to be interested in finding and talking to Alicia, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see her again with Lionel.
We were disappointed in the lack of final resolution on her, though.
West Wing was pretty good last week. I can’t say that I’m digging the whole “military crisis of the week” mode we’ve been in for the last few episodes, but I agree with PAD that the stuff with CJ and the Jay Mohr character was really great stuff, not Sorkin stuff, but good. I actually thought the Leo subplot was a bit heavy-handed (Sorkin would’ve probably done something like this, but it would’ve been more subtle), but it was a nice side of Leo that humanized him in ways we haven’t seen lately, save for his interactions with his daughter in recent episodes.
Oh, and PAD, not going to spoil anything, but I think Jay Mohr’s character is back with a vengeance in tonight’s episode, so you may just get your wish.
Smallville: I keep wondering if Lionel is (unwittingly) in the process of creating a Bizarro version of Clark with the experiments on Adam and others using Clarks’ blood. That’s probably not what is happening since Al Gough has said that Adam is an original character they created and will be gone after several episodes, but it’s fun to speculate.
I too am getting very tired of all the different people in Smallville who know Clark’s secret, and most of them have very good (if malicious) reasons to “out” him, yet don’t seem to be able to do so.
GnuHopper wrote:
How about “Tru Calling”? Have you dropped it from the round-up?
Tru doesn’t seem to be on much this month. Temporarily replaced with movies. Although I hear FOX has already upped for a second season.
Granted that no sane person is going to listen to a nutball who ALSO claims to be able to teleport, but I’m reminded of an old X-Files episode where a guy can make himself look like any other man, and he’s using the ability to “get a lil somethin somethin.” At the end of the episode, in custody, he tells Scully that they’re keeping him sedated enough to render him “normal.” That’s my 2 cents.
I HOWLED at the line on Frasier!
CHARMED: What about Phoebe’s pregnancy in that vision quest where she found out about Chris? I’m curious who the father will be….
Smallville really isn’t a very good show.
The writers don’t seem to be able to come up with original ideas and they don’t think things through. Almost every week they recycle the same stuff and make glaring errors.
Just like you guys I’m really getting tired of seeing all these Kryptonite-powered baddies who find out Clark’s secret and never seem to be able to oust him. They aren’t all crazy. Someone would at least check out their stories.
And you’d think that Lionel Luthor would be all over people like bamf girl, to get the lowdown on Clark. He’d know about what happened with her and that Clark was involved. Luthor’s got the police on the payroll and it’s not like Clark ever disappears from the crime scene. He’s always giving statements to 5-0, etc. Hëll, shouldn’t Lionel just hire someone to tail Clark for a week or maybe install a secret video camera at the farm? Why does he need to genetically alter some guy to befriend Lana just so he can find out more about Clark? That has to be the most indirect, obtuse way to gather information I’ve ever seen!
If Lionel Luthor was a quarter of the crafty villain the producers want you to think he is, he’d already have Clark laid out on a dissection table under a red sun lamp, ready to cut into him with a kryptonite spoon and a smile.
How about giving us a resolution to the “Lionel Luthor has a hard-on for Clark plot” and getting back to more high school-centric stories without kryptonite, minus the looming threat of exposure from powerful outside sources?
And hëll, speaking of kryptonite, I thought the producers were getting away from that overused rock? Seems like everyone in town has a piece of the meteorite in their back pocket this season.
And finally (I can’t believe I wrote this much on Smallville) the whole Lana and Clark relationship is out of control. The fact that Clark was so excited to date bamf girl tells me he can move on, yet, the writers HAVE to include that obligatory end scene where Clark and Lana still show that they have feelings for each other. It’s ridiculous. And it’s bad TV.
Yet I continue to watch it. They got me with one, stupid hook.. I want to see how Clark becomes Superman. And so I suffer..
Yet I continue to watch it. They got me with one, stupid hook.. I want to see how Clark becomes Superman.
I think he dashes into the nearest phone booth. Or maybe down an alleyway.
PAD
It’s a good thing Alicia didn’t get to carry through on her plans with Clark. Or am I the only person who remembers Larry Niven’s classic essay, “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex”?
…speaking of Smallville and Angel.. for those who might not like these shows…
“If you had a Kryptonite cross, you could keep both Angel AND Superman away”…(paraphrased from Jack Handy)
One other problem with the Freaks of the Week; by this point, Lionel, Lex, and, oh, every governmental agency, megacorporation, and press should be all over Smallville. They’ve long since had too many people display paranormal abilities to too many people for folk in general not to realize that something major’s going on in the town.
Although there could be a fun episode where a pair of Mulder and Scully clones come to Smallville to investigate things X-Files style.
The nuclear episode underscored some excellent points when one considers the fundamental hypocrisy of the only nation in history ever to have killed people with an A-Bomb going around and telling other countries what to do with their own similar weaponry.
Except that it only works if you don’t draw distinctions between democracies and dictatorships.
-Dave O’Connell
As for Frasier, is it now a rule that every other episode has to end with a big musical number?
-Dave O’Connell
Jonathan wrote: “It’s a good thing Alicia didn’t get to carry through on her plans with Clark. Or am I the only person who remembers Larry Niven’s classic essay, “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex”? “
For those who don’t know, “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” is an essay describing, scientifically, the difficulties Superman would have in having sex and having a child with a human.
This is another item that falls into “willing suspension of disbelief.” (If they keep having to resort to that, it means the writing is pretty weak.) Clark is pretty much invulnerable, but when Lex hugs him or Lana/Chloe kiss him, they don’t comment that his skin feels as tough as steel (which it must). We also don’t know that Clark’s, um, reproductive capability is as hyper-powerful as his other abilities. (If it is, and sex would wound or kill his partner, ratched up the angst a LOT for this poor teen.)
And I haven’t checked, but I’m sure there’s a lot of X-rated fan fiction on the Internet about Clark and Lana, or Clark and Chloe. (Heck, there’s probably fiction on Clark and Lex.) There are enough fans debating who’s hotter, Lana or Chloe…
Try at this address…
http://andy.illuminatedtext.com/smallville/
;->
Don’t forget, one of the things Larry Niven mentions is that the actual sex process is driven by muscles. Since Clark has the most powerful set on the planet, and since every part of his body is invulnerable, by this point shouldn’t there be thousands of little holes all through the Kent house?
The nuclear episode underscored some excellent points when one considers the fundamental hypocrisy of the only nation in history ever to have killed people with an A-Bomb going around and telling other countries what to do with their own similar weaponry.
Except that it only works if you don’t draw distinctions between democracies and dictatorships.
That also applies to the other thing the Iranian ambassador claimed was hypocrisy, namely ignoring Israel having nuclear weapons. Funny how PAD ignored that point. The other reasons we’re telling countries like Iran not to get nuclear weapons is they because they signed the non-proliferation treaty, and because they’ve made it clear that the first country they want to attack is the one where PAD’s relatives live. Rafsanjani said it would be worth getting Iran destroyed if they could take Israel with them.
Discord wrote:
Tru doesn’t seem to be on much this month. Temporarily replaced with movies. Although I hear FOX has already upped for a second season.
True, but I don’t think PD commented on either of the last two episodes — the “Groundhog Day” or “Valentine’s Day” episodes. And this after PD stating that the show was growing on him, I was just curious if something happened to change his mind and drop TC from his viewing schedule.
The other reasons we’re telling countries like Iran not to get nuclear weapons is they because they signed the non-proliferation treaty, and because they’ve made it clear that the first country they want to attack is the one where PAD’s relatives live.
Iran is planning to nuke Pennsylvania?
The fiends.
PAD
Concerning Freaks of the Week (on Smallville). That bothered me in the first season, because I was seeing the show as if it belonged in a world like Highlander or most action shows on TV. In those worlds, they try to have pretty much the same world we have outside our windows, except for this one hero and his/her personal world. The wierd that does occur, occurs below everyone’s radar and there is normally only one wierd thing. But then I had to remember, this is not a TV world, this is a Comic Book World (specifically the DCU) on TV where nothing happens below the radar and all possible realities are true. (True, divergent reality from the comic, but it’s still the DCU.) That means it has a metagene population that greater than non-metagene population and as Clark grows older it goes from Freak of the Week, to “Freak of the Day”, to quote a piece of fanfiction.
Two things: Jay Mohr is only signed to a 3 episode arc. I believe tonight’s ep is the third.
Unless something has changed in the last 12 hours, Tru Calling has NOT been renewed for a second season as yet. The ratings aren’t that good.
By the way I have a weekly column that I hope is okay to plug here. It’s called the Couch Potato Review. It’s a weekly recap of the TV/Film and Music Worlds. You can check it out at http://www.simplyjd.com/cpr/main.shtml
(Heck, there’s probably fiction on Clark and Lex.)
Probably? Probably? dude the entire show is about the secret love affair between Clark and Lex. Read the smallville recaps at televisionwithoutpity.com you’ll soon see the truth
I don’t think anyone should worry about the ‘Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex’ thing.
It’s fiction. Let’s just assume that Clark can ëjáçûláŧë on a low power setting and move on.
I stopped watching West Wing because it is a mere shadow of its former self. I have better things to do with my time. Jay Mohr is one of my favorite comedians. I guess I’ll have to watch these episodes in rerun just to see his performance.
The “20 years” line on Frasier was a howl.
Anybody else stick around for Scrubs, which had the gut-punch of the season in its final scene? This could be NBC’s marquee sitcom if they’d just leave it in a time slot for a while.
Paul
SMALLVILLE
PAD wrote: The only thing that confused me was Alicia’s final fate. … Now maybe these questions are going to be addressed, but it would have been nice if there’d been a hint that they were going to be.
Looks like she’ll be back, and those questions will be answered. The Smallville Ledger reports that she escaped from jail. http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/smallville/ledger/article.jsp?id=sv_vol66_iss15_4
I didn’t see SCRUBS — very, very pìššëd that they moved it to the same time as 24, and I work Tuesdays. What happened on SCRUBS?
And I agree with ezrael’s comments on Clark’s possibly human-level sexuality. After all, when he’s kissed people he hasn’t sucked the air out of their lungs, or blown them across the room, with his super breath. I’m guessing he can also blow his nose without sending a high-speed projectile through the air.
Of course, they’d have to stop playing the Will They-Won’t They? game with Clark and Lana. And I don’t think the writers believe that well will ever run dry.
James, here’s what happened:
(IF YOU TAPED IT AND HAVEN’T WATCHED IT YET, STOP READING NOW!)
Cox’s best friend and ex-brother-in-law, played by Brendan Fraser, came back to town after spending two years seeing the world (remember, he was diagnosed with leukemia and had a miraculous remission?). He spent the whole episode being the Wacky Guy With A Camera and following Cox around constantly. Meanwhile, Cox and Jordan are planning their son’s first birthday party, Carla and Turk are fretting over Turk’s mole (Carla would like it gone–it speaks to her when she stares at it) and whether or not Carla will take Turk’s name after they’re married (he wants her to, she doesn’t want to). Plus, J.D. has had a patient die on him even after Cox told J.D. the guy wasn’t going to die on the next 30 minutes from his unexplained arrythmia, and Cox, who blames J.D. for the man’s death, is driving himself nuts trying to cover all J.D.’s patients.
After Cox, at his friend’s insistence, has told J.D. that the man’s death isn’t his fault, we see Cox and Fraser walking through a park. Cox is wearing a suit and tie. Fraser is dressed casually and playfully giving Cox a hard time as he has been the whole episode. He says something about keeping Cox from misbehaving. The camera angle changes so that we only see Cox, with J.D., also in a suit and tie, coming up behind him. “You can’t keep me from getting drunk,” Cox says in response to Fraser’s last crack. J.D. pauses and asks, “Where do you think you’re going?” Reverse angle. Fraser is no longer there.
“Oohhhhhh,” I groan as I realize that this isn’t a park and they aren’t going to the kid’s birthday party.
J.D. and Cox turn off the path and walk past rows of tombstones in what is now clearly a cemetery.
Cox’s friend has died, and they’re going to his funeral.
Like I was saying, the gut-punch of the season.
Paul
I know this is for last week’s episodes, so I won’t comment on last night’s episode of the West Wing except to say…
…THAT was one doozy of a revelation that I couldn’t have expected if I tried really really hard.
That said, I’ll reserve the rest of my comments until the next round-up thread goes up.
Paul, thanks for the update on SCRUBS. I’ve read interviews witr that show’s stars where they say because it’s a hospital, people *do* die, about 1/3 of the time, whether they’re good or not. It’s a credit to the show that they still manage a lot of humor in the show. (I’m reluctantly picking 24 over SCRUBS, but that’s because I’m sure the latter will be shown this summer in reruns.)
And no offense Michael, but I knew the big surprise almost the second it happened. (SPOILERS FOLLOW) C.J. was far too professional, and had far too much experience, to be rattled by the mere fact Hoynes was writing a book. Once they mentioned that it would include info about his affairs, I immediately guessed that she was one of the women. (Then again, I knew who Keyzer Soze was one minute after the opening credits in THE USUAL SUSPECTS!)
No offense taken, James. I guess I didn’t expect it because I attributed CJ’s being rattled to the whole “Drudge Report” controversy being sprung on her, and connected it back to early episodes of seasons 1 and 2, where CJ and Hoynes always had some tension going on.
Then again, I’m the kind of person who likes some consistency in the writing of one of my favorite shows, and for the past 2-3 season, the show has been very uneven. 😉
Or maybe it’s because I never saw this show as THAT kind of “bombshell” show. I mean seriously, I saw a promo for ER involving a tank and I thought, “What the hëll?!” 😉
Or maybe I don’t pick up on these things, maybe that’s why I’m still single. 🙂
That said, the rest of my comments are in the other thread.
Iran is planning to nuke Pennsylvania?
Remember the comment you posted from the cousin (IIRC) in Israel who said he didn’t think the country would be around in a couple of decades? Iran is one of the reasons.