Premiere Week... a Few Thoughts

Wow. There is way too much TV. Especially with the Jewish holidays... I am BEHIND in my viewing. Way behind.

A few thoughts, though... not on ratings (since I've largely twittered my impressions), but on the content itself.

House: Haven't watch last night's episode yet so I don't know the extent to which the show is "back to normal," but the premiere was a combination of awesome and troubling. The temporary and new setting was a fun change of pace, and we got to really see how far this show has come from it's highlight lead character but entirely procedural foundations. As all doctors are psychologists on House, even the psychologists, I found the character elements of the premiere fascinating, but the actual story chock full of meh. The character types found in the psych ward were just that... types. Totally seen every single one of them before. But a great piece of Hugh Laurie who, one of these days, might actually win an Emmy.

Big Bang Theory: I thought last night's was funnier than the premiere. The show just puts a smile on my face. It doesn't so much matter to me that it and HIMYM were split up, because DVR make me my own scheduler/programmer.

How I Met Your Mother: Last night's episode showcased exactly what makes this show awesome, and exactly why Ted is the sore thumb. His storyline was almost entirely separate and tangential to the other four characters... and it was the least entertaining part. The rest of the ensemble is interesting. Ted grates. The writers should really have him meet the Mother soon and show us the courtship and be done with it so that we aren't given these awkward little dating stories told from the year 2030 (though, seriously, Bob Saget-Ted, why are you telling your kids about Stripper Lily?) Though we've seen the doppelganger plot on other sitcoms... I really enjoyed the way HIMYM did it.

Grey's Anatomy: Like House, I appreciated the break from formula (though Grey's is certainly less "formula" than House on an episodic basis). The little vignettes were an amalgamation of entertaining, devastating, and uplifting. And I'm really glad the show chose to do with "40 day" thing and get it out of the way so we didn't have to spend the first 10 episodes dealing with mourning stories (though I'm sure we'll still get some). I'm intrigued by the Seattle Grace / Mercy West merger plotline and, boy howdy, Ellen Pompeo's face looked pregnant.

Dollhouse: The premiere wasn't anything special, story-wise. Decent twist with Ballard being Echo's client and now Jamie Bamber's arms dealer. The best part of the episode, as always, was away from Echo, this time with the Topher and Saunders/Whiskey goings-on. Hopefully we'll get more Victor and Sierra in the coming weeks. Though, honestly, I wish the show would just forgot its episodic foundation and hurtle along towards "Epitaph One" territory...

The Amazing Race: God I'm so happy TAR is back. I totally made the mistake of watching it while fasting. Which, if you watched the episode, you know was not a great idea as one of the challenges was a Japanese game show called "Sushi Roulette" (WANT!) which had the contestants standing in front of a giant wheel that spun and you had to eat whatever sushi roll landing in front of you and the only way to move on was, if a wasabi bomb landed in front of you, to eat the wasabi bomb in 2 minutes. I really, really, really wanted a wasabi bomb. I think the producers finally did a bang-up job in casting the contestants this season after a few cycles of non-standouts. Lance is going to make for a great Ugly American villain. Zev, the guy with Asperger's, is hilarious. There are two cute gay brothers. And that female poker player team... MAN, I was happy the first leg was non-elimination so they could stay in the game.

Desperate Housewives: The introduction of Drea de Matteo's character and family was not the smoothest that Housewives has ever done. Still, I'm glad for the "cliffhanger" (which in the "next time" apparently wasn't a murder as Julie is comatose / on life support) to spice the show up. I've ragged on the need for the seasonal mystery arcs in the past, but this episode was pure soap and had, for me, no drive. There was no excitement going into it from the end of last season, which showed in the ratings nosedive.

Thank god I'd already seen all of the pilots so I didn't have to watch them this week (although I did resample Modern Family, Cougar Town, and Flash Forward for the HD awesomeness)... but I definitely will have to find time to view this week. Cougar Town was much improved in reshoots versus the pilot. A lot of unfunny awkward taken out and some funny lines added in.

And They Have A Plan

Dave Williams' plan, per the teaser of Desperate Housewives, is really, really, really, really dumb. Would he really need YEARS to plan that? And how could he have spent years planning to kill Katherine Mayfair when Katherine and Mike only recently started dating? Dammit, show, get your continuity straight!

... still not as dumb as the Cylons' plan.

Dammit, Bree, you shouldn't need a pep talk from Andrew to realize Orson is being a dickwad and you shouldn't sell your company. C'mon, Bree, you were always a strong woman. This "I believe in traditional values" defense is so very flimsy. Yes, Bree, by referring to you, I mean the writers. This plot is ridiculous and I'm sad that Bree is saddled with it/Orson.

Predictions?

Monday is the DWTS/Castle premiere on ABC.  Last week ABC hit off the charts with the finale of The Bachelor.  There's no way Castle is hitting the 6.7 A19-49 the After the Final Rose Special scored.  Frankly, there's not a shot in hell the final half hour of DWTS gets anywhere close to the 6.3 the Bachelor got at 9:30pm, though it will almost certainly have a couple million more viewers (closer to 21 than The Bachelor's 17.48)

So, what is successful for Castle?  Boston Legal "failed" in the timeslot and its season premiere after the last cycle's DWTS premiere did just shy of 10 million viewers and a 2.4 in the demo.  Castle, given the LARGE promotional push, must do more than that.  A good deal more.  ABC has mad marginal success at 10pm.  A 3.0 is a tough get on ABC at 10pm.  Yet, less than a 3.0 really must be deemed a failure here (I wouldn't be surprised to see 10 million viewers drop off, but for the demo retention to be better... so I'm not even going to pay attention to the overnight numbers... unless, of course, a bunch of the 50+ set looks at Castle and gets confused and thinks ABC brought back Murder, She Wrote).

I'm not sure the same barometer applies later this season to the Cupid and The Unusuals' premieres.  Cupid will have the lower rated DWTS Results show as a lead-in, which will be lucky to get 16 million viewers and a 3.5 on Tuesday, March 31st, and even if it does, it'll be number two or three in either measure (The Mentalist will be higher in both, and who knows what that Osbourne family special is going to do on Fox after Idol).  A 3.0 for Cupid would be a startling success (Eli Stone did, what, a 2.0 at the max?  Primetime has been in the mid-2s).  And The Unusuals... well, we all know Lost's audience doesn't stick around.

Meanwhile, the return of Desperate Housewives tonight could've given The Office a run for its "let's mine comedy out of some awkward situations until there's nothing left to mine... then let's mine some more!"

As soon as Bree invited Lynette to dinner at her place for Tom to meet her publisher, we knew Lynette was eventually going to put herself up for the job.  But the way it went down... Tom is an asshat.  Used to love him.  Can't stand him anymore.  Playing the C-card... that's lowest of the low.  Lynette's stories and problems have always been the most real-world, and the "Tom's restaurant closes because of the economy (and some other things)" has been no exception.  But it really doesn't seem to have much of a place in the far more over-the-top world of Desperate Housewives.

Also Orson's kleptomania is LAME.  Remember when Buffy had no idea what to do with Dawn's character so made her a kleptomaniac?  And it sucked?

But... yay, murder!

The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened

What!?

Where the hell did that episode of Desperate Housewives come from? I mean, I know, I know, 100th episode... but it wasn't, like, a pull-out-all-the-stops game-changing very-special-episode episode. It was just... amazing. Except maybe Edie's flashback. Could've done with something from Katherine (during the 5 year skip, perhaps?) instead / in addition to (since the firm/perk line was great). Emotional fulfillment. I has it.

Kinda funny how, pretty much, nothing happened in the episode, but it was satisfying nonetheless. And centered around character we'd never seen before and never will again.

Sigh, and there's three weeks until the next episode?

Location Location Location

Hah, the "gay club" Susan and Lee went to in tonight's new Desperate Housewives (new? who knew!?) was Boulevard3. That space is so recognizable. Many a drunken night spent there... with straight friends. Well, that's the magic of television.

But, clearly, what Susan thinks happened didn't, and Lee knows what did. Right? I mean... you don't sleep with the hag...

It's Alive!

OMFG, ya'll. Sunday night TV.

Dexter: Went to a friend's house who gets the east coast feed of Showtime so we watched Dexter. Eh. That premiere did not have a ton of oomph. At the end of season two it seemed like there was going to be this massive transformation in how Dexter went about, y'know, his business. But after the 7 minute "previously on" (eye roll...) segment... not a ton changed besides Deb's hair (cute!) Highly underwhelming. And am I the only one who didn't care fore Jimmy Smits? The show is always so spot on with creating these characters and making amazing, unique casting choices... this didn't work for me. Well, I'm still hooked, of course, but... eh.

The Amazing Race: God I've missed this show. It was such a mistake for CBS to only do one cycle last season. This show demands you watch it. It's the only show that keeps you on the edge of your seat and your heart, er, racing the entire time. The usual business of a first episode for the cycle, and I'm sad to see the team that left leave so early (they definitely stood out in the crowd), but it looks like there's a lot of Ugly American activity brewing. Yay! Also... we have a new himbo.

Desperate Housewives: First few minutes? Wow. They didn't come out and say it, per se, but THEY KILLED MIKE. In such a quaint, amusing way! And the device bringing us from the "characters we knew" to the "five years later" versions was used to great, smooth effect. Well done, show. GABRIELLE'S KIDS ARE FAT. Bree... you're Martha Stewart. And you always should have been. And Andrew's... well, in a suit. Can he please have a gay boyfriend this season? Now that he's an adult and all. Katherine: "If there's one thing you're really good at, it's posing as a chef." I wish they would've shown the pie-in-face hilarity (they still may). Parker and Preston... eh, they're still causing trouble for poor Lynette. And Brian Kinney is screwing Susan! Of course he was fantastic, Susan, he's Brian Kinney. Hm, the awkward kicking-him-out-of-bed and secret-relationship talk makes me think that (a) Mike is not dead, and (b) Susan is having an affair... but she's just "still getting over it" etc. Hm, Brian needs to work on his abs. Hm, creepy blonde dude moving into neighborhood by sorta-force-evicting some old dude... and he's married to Edie! Edie's back! Okay, time to enjoy this show and stop gabbing.

Hi, okay, I'm trying, I really am, but yay to the gay househusbands sitting on their porch and snapping a cameraphone (even if it was a clunky piece o' crap phone) a picture of Brian Kinney escaping Susan's house in his skivvies in the middle of the day. Marc Cherry, please, keep this quality up!

Fun Orson cameo. Is Kyle MacLachlan going to be on the show or will he just be doing that brief bit of The Doors karaoke? Aw, Bree took Orson back. And Danielle took her son from Bree and Orson. Where is Susan's son in all of this, b-the-dubs?

... and Mike is not dead. Not sure how I feel about that. Though it does explain where her son has been while she's, y'know, sleeping with Brian Kinney. I like that this episode progressed all these characters so much without writing people like Orson and Mike off.

The ending with "creepy blonde guy married to Edie is (a) really crazy, and (b) on Wisteria Lane to hurt/kill/whatever some mystery person" was extremely clunky, though. I've always found the serial mystery plotlines to be the most forced and, after the first season, unnecessary part of the show. But, well, everything else in this episode was so good that I'll let it slide... for now...

Brothers & Sisters: The only issues I have going into this premiere are (a) icky Justin-Rebecca feelings lingering, and (b) the fact that I know that Ryan, the new "other Walker sibling" won't be around UNTIL EPISODE 14 (thank you, spoilers from casting friends). This is my favorite guilty pleasure, sappy-emotional fluff hour of TV. I don't analyze and criticize it like I do, say, Heroes. I just laugh and smile and cry and hold my breath along with my heart on my sleeve. And to do so... I need to just watch. So... yay, the Walker family is back, I'll blog ya tomorrow with thoughts on Mad Men and the Fox comedies (er, not King of the Hill of course) if I feel an urge to (and if I'm able to watch them tonight, as it's already close to midnight and tomorrow is, well, Monday...

So Much To Say

Yawn. Wow, so I am behind on this whole "regularly blog" thang I semi-have going here.

I can explain.

I moved apartments this weekend.

Hence... yawn.

And speaking of yawn... WTF, Gossip Girl? That episode was poorly plotted, IMHFO. Not the entire thing... just the last act. I'm sorry, but you're a teen serial. Leave us with a bang (doesn't have to be literal, but some kind of huge, buzzy cliffhanger would do). Instead, the show limps off to summer with a One Week Later coda that seems to put 80% of the characters back where they started the series (not to mention mixing up, like, all of the teenagers' partners in lust... but in a matter of fact way that doesn't demand exploration, as opposed to that OMFG moment I kept waiting for). I don't get it. When Gossip Girl went on hiatus in early January, I couldn't wait for the next installment. September 1st? I'm not entirely sure I care that it's over three months away.

While on the subjects of narrative leaps, I think I'm in the minority on Desperate Housewives' five year jump. I like it as a reset button. There are plenty of blanks to be filled in... but only a couple that really matter (the central one being why is Susan not with Mike). Let's face it... the show, even though it had a creative resurgence due to Katherine Mayfair / Dana Delany, was getting tired. How many iterations of Gabrielle cheating on Carlos did we see? How much annoying crap with Lynette's preteen boys? This allows new kinds of stories to be told for certain characters without all the hullabaloo of, y'know, transitioning us there (so, in concept, I like it... in execution it seems like the show gave Lynette's storyline to Gaby and is aging Lynette's monsters five years and they're still going to be giant pains in the arse...)

But, hopefully, good riddance Andrea Bowen! May you never come back from college. And can suit-and-tie Andrew please get his gay storyline back? I mean, Brothers & Sisters follows the show... make it work, people.

Welcome Back

The Desperate Housewives spring premiere is finally here! So much goodwill has been engendered form me to this season throughout the fall section of the season that, for the first time since the second season premiere, I really, truly have been waiting with bated breath to find out what happens next on Wisteria Lane.

But first, I really enjoyed tonight's The Simpsons episode, featuring the return of Lurlene Lumpkin. The only episodes that seem to have much continuity in The Simpsons are the Sideshow Bob ones and ones dealing with Homer's mother (thanks to "That 90s Show", I can no longer say the same about Homer and Marge's courtship... sigh... even if it did poke fun at the fact that it's long been accepted that Homer impregnated Marge and she had Bart basically right out of high school, but there are a missing 10 years of their lives together...) Anyway, it was nice to have Lurlene back (as well as Colonel Homer, Marge's grating teeth, etc etc etc). And some entertaining Britney Spears parallels (IMHO).

Back to Wisteria Lane...

So, Katherine (apparently) killer his first husband. Not a huge shock, but huzzah to Dana Delany for playing this potentially arch character so human, so controlled, so subtle. Can't wait to find out the whole truth about this.

And bravo to the show for having all the ladies (minus Edie, see later) in the opening moments in an easy, breezy scene that really reminds us who each lady is.

Susan's accountant cousin is ick... but the show very, very much needs those "slightly forbidden love" and "hot male actor" elements, so I say keep him for a little while (and for the love of god, don't bring back Jesse Metcalfe... we're done with him!) Since he knew Katherine Mayfair as Katherine Davis, I suspect he'll be around for a bit and will help us get to the bottom or the mystery... in one way or another (see ick, add sleeping with Dylan Mayfair... although they've been keeping the person he's sleeping with off screen, so I'm actually suspecting it's not Dylan so much as it's Katherine).

How much do I love Lynette for getting her family to go to church, going to Bree's church, and ASKING QUESTIONS after the sermon after introducing herself as Bree's friend. Price. Less.

Edie needs to go. I'm sorry, but she no longer has a plot, and though she's playing that "Wicked Witch of Wisteria Lane" role so campily, it just serves to take time away from the other characters who, shock!, have interesting plotlines. And make room for more Dana Delany.

Also, Carlos, now blind, needs to go. I suspect that the "OMG SPOILER" TVGuide information about the closing moments of this season will address the removal of both he and Edie, as well as letting Felicity Huffan work without the post-chemo head covering (and wigs). At least, if they do what has been reported, these are issues that can be taken care of (though I suspect anything permanently fatal happening to Edie or Carlos would happen onscreen over these seven hours). The only way to free Gaby from her on-off relationship with Carlos is to, well, off him. It can also get rid of Julie.

Actually, now that I'm 2/3 through the episode, can Gaby leave? I mean... pulling physical comedy pranks on the blind (even if it's to get him to admit that he's permanently, not temporarily, blind)? That's low. Hahah, she just said "do you really think I'm that shallow?" Yes, Gaby. Yes. We do. Aw, that scene turned out so touching. Now I'm actually feeling bad about the above, predicting Carlos' imminent death so that Gaby could move on. Layers, people. She's growing layers.

OMG IT WAS KATHERINE. I'm not so sure this lowers the "ick" on Cousin Timmy, but... hey, whatevs! "By the way, your boob is out." That whole scene was genius. GENIUS.

The Bree/Lynette church/faith plot has been both touching and comic, but I really don't need to hear phrases like "faith shouldn't be blind" when a different character's plotline actually is about blindness.

More on Katherine/Timmy... so their Gabrielle Solis / John Rowland esque affair (seriously, the 16 year olds on Wisteria Lane are just naturally inclined to be hot for the housewives... must in the water) happened 12 years ago. Just around the time Katherine left Wisteria Lane before. Hm. And, lo and behold, it seems Tim Tim (I'm going to keep trying these on for size to see if any stick better than the others) witnessed her killing (or not) her first husband.

Wow. I LOLed more during this episode than I did through Thursday's The Office (which, upon second viewing, was better once I got over the gross misfire that was returning to the airwaves with an episode not set at the Dunder Mifflin office... but I still didn't see it at anything resembling a series best).

Bravo, Desperate Housewives, and welcome back.

I'm recording Eli Stone (which I stopped watching after three episodes) because, what the hell, but I won't post about it unless I manage to make it through the whole thing... I'm curious how the show has changed and if it has improved.

... okay, so I made it through the episode. The show is not nearly as whimsically fanciful as it was (at least in this episode). A marked improvement. It was easy to follow the continuing plots I didn't see since I stopped watching. I'm intrigued if/how they continue with this earthquake cliffhanger, mostly because it is an interesting way to turn the show's premise on its head. In as much as it is an event that could make other people start really believing Eli (which it would seem they do not do) just as he is headed into surgery to get the aneurysm that may/may not cause his visions. It would be interesting for this Thursday's episode's cliffhanger to leave Eli on the operating table, his survival in question... especially if it turns out to be a series finale instead of a season finale, as it would put the question of faith to each viewer for how it turns out. Probably not how it'll go down, but whatever.

Okay, Now I'll Talk About 2008 TV

The Amazing Race: Pretty obviously a non-elimination round (since they spent like 5 minutes on TK and Rachel as they did the various activities from behind instead of just skipping them to the pit stop...) I almost brought myself to rooting for Nate and Jen to come in first place because they way the show has been edited together, I get the feeling that, if they don't come in first in the penultimate leg, that they're destined to win... which, ugh). When's the finale? Is it really in two weeks? Or three (given a potential super-leg)?

Desperate Housewives: Mrs. McClusky comes out swinging at Negative Nancy Edie (telling her that when you get to be her age, prayer is actually quite comforting, and Edie will know that in a year or two!) Anyway, Lynette's entire family is alright and everyone is happy... and the other old lady who apparently had a name, but I'll remember her as the Penis Demon Lady from the Buffy episode Doublemeat Palace. A respectful, solemn title card (first time I think the show has used it without any of the Danny Elfman score). Hey, look! Despite the fact that they weren't in the last episode, the Gay Couple is back! And their ugly fountain was destroyed! Hah, I totally forgot that. A bit weird that they cut to "3 Days Later" without so much as showing Gabby. But that's "last-minute pre-strike script, no rewrites" for you. Ugh, not loving the "Bree's contractor is gay, and the gay residents' friends are 'nines' and the contractor is 'a three' so they can't set him up with someone after his break-up, so Bree's house will remain roofless" thing. Not because of the plot, but because I enjoy Bob and Lee, but don't really like the "preening, judging, superficial gay" angle (and I swear to God, if Bree is thinking of setting that guy up with Andrew... oh, we're gonna have a fight about that... I mean, pimping her son!) I'm surprised Gabby didn't kill Carlos with that much morphine. And surprised that she continues to surprise me with her self-centeredness... I mean, you'd think I'd know better than to be let down by her behavior. Hah! Andrew totally called Bree on pimping her out. Awkward! "You can raise a man's hopes without satisfying them, I've done it all my life," Bree says. I don't think that means what she meant it to mean. And now Susan's trying to undo the "pimp my son" action to keep Bree as her kind-of-live-in-maid... and she brings up Justin the Gardner. What happened to Ray Carnes? Anyone? Anyway, Susan's foot should be firmly in her mouth in about ten seconds. Wow. Wow. The title is DESPERATE Housewives. And that scene with Bree and Orson (and Andrew) begging the contractor to parade Andrew in front of the contractor's ex certainly lived up to it. "He's got a mesh tank-top that will bring your ex to tears." You know... it just became not funny. Way to go too far, Orson. Hearing Gabby say "for richer or poorer" was almost believable. Carlos saying "in sickness and in health" says to me that he's blind (hence the wrap around his eyes). Um... yeah, unless they're planning another Lynette-styled cancer-remission with Carlos' eye-sight, don't they kind of have to write him off? And just as she's starting to exhibit growth! Sad, really. The scene between Katherine and Adam was okay. Too bad the season is getting cut short, but at least there's some twist and movement on the "What happened to Dylan?" mystery. Oh, Katherine, I hope whatever you did that it's forgivable enough that Dana Delany can stay on the show when it comes back! Not a season-finale by any means, and I don't think it fair in any way to judge it on that standard. Would've been great way to start off a new string of episodes, though. At least this way, when the strike does end, the DH writers can regroup, come back, and not suffer a mid-season quality slump.

The Simpsons: "Meh" political episode, but the ending was great (Ralph Wiggum is running for POTUS and as he sits on the Lincoln Memorial Statue's lap asking for presents for a political ad, he sticks his finger up his nose and the tag line reads "Ralph Wiggum: Pick a Winner").

American Dad: Total "meh". I really don't know why I still watch the show (oh, wait, it's because of the one brilliant half-hour they've managed to do, but that was in 2006...)

Cashmere Mafia: So this aired pilot was reshot and almost complete different than what I saw in May. I will say this... they did make it sleeker. They got rid of the cloying Mia (Lucy Liu) voiceover narration, AND dressed her better (one of my major gripes was that she's supposed to be the Second Coming of Carrie Bradshaw but she dressed like Ty Tai – thanks Mike – pre-Cher intervention). Seriously, at least through the first commercial break, I'm actually liking her wardrobe. Mia's e-mail thing was a decent way to introduce the other characters... though it might've gone unnoticed that in her e-mails, for whatever reason, she had their company names and positions. Subtle! *cough* So the "mafia" gathers and we see the Desperate Housewives our main characters together... a white brunette, a white blonde, a white red head, and a pleasing-to-look-at non-white ethnicity? Do go on, Marc Cherry. And they all, naturally, have square-jawed white men in their lives (yes, I know, Bonnie Somerville's character's story is the adventure into lesbianism... with Eva from The Nine!) By the way, the men are all surprisingly unattractive when shirtless. I know they shoot the series in NYC... there have to be better looking, decent actors. It's not like they're leads. They're accessories. And I still don't understand the "Mafia" part of the show's title. But whatever. Finally, my god, can there please be an hour-long show on ABC that isn't flooded with plucky, bouncy, "dramedy" score??? Someone needs to tell these women that there's more than one restaurant in Manhattan... and that they need to learn a thing or two about business lunches.

American Gladiators: Recorded the second hour (FauxVo was busy recording two things until 10pm). It's camp, of course, but I wonder if it's too slick to be appreciated as camp. It's so campy that it veers on being serious. And I'll have none of it. I would rank the return of this 90s series as among the worst crimes committed on television this decade... perhaps ever. Right up there with The Swan.