Reruns on Cable
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2004-2005 Season
In Review
Just a Thought
It's pretty dismal...
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2004-2005 Season: In Review
Thursday 03.03.2005
alice ttlg || 08:13 PM
What I can't wait to watch each week
24 and Lost, best two shows on TV. 24 is amazingly good this year. Bit of a slow start, whiny Chloe was really annoying at the start but it's moved on since then. Now I'm on pins and needles to see where it goes now that the nuclear meltdown crisis is past. The only thing that's bothered me a bit this year is the excessive number of instances of gratuitious torture scenes, not by the bad guys but by the good guys. The first month or so, there always seemed to be a CTU torture scene of the week. While I've liked how they handled Jack's ruthlessness in past seasons and also showed the repercussions, this all seemed overdone, more for shock value than moving along the plot line or character exposition. Lost is a fascinating story, this is as good or better than the Rimbaldi story line the first couple years on Alias. The careful unfolding of each character's background in concert with their life on the mysterious island has kept me anxiously waiting for Wednesday evenings.And the next thing I watch after that
Numbers, House and Medium. I like Numbers, I like the relationship between the brothers and the two worlds they live in make for a nice contrast, the physical versus the intellectual. And House, while the medical story lines are rather repetitive, Dr. House is fun to watch, I love his acerbity and his ongoing battle with Dr. Cuddy as well as his medical students trying to second guess him. I'm a sucker for curmudgeons. Medium is just plain good. It's really nice to see Patricia Arquette on a regular basis and she's excellent at playing a bit of an oddball who still handles all the normal ordinary everyday things of being wife and mother to three kids.Middle of the pack
Alias, Battlestar Galatica, Judging Amy, Medical Investigation and Without a Trace. I really enjoyed Alias the first couple years, I liked the combination of James Bond with the mystical Rimbaldi tale. But that's mostly past now and we're back to more James Bond stuff along with relationships between Sydney and Vaughn and Sydney and her sister, Nadia. While it's been good to see more of a normal life for Sydney, somehow the show's lost momentum. Sydney's vendetta against Sloane is getting old and there's been nothing new to take the place of Rimbaldi or the triumvirate of SD-6, K-Directorate and the CIA. Battlestar Galatica started off well, but the grimness gets a bit overwhelming and overdone at times. It's also progressing verrrry slowwwwwly, seems like we get 15 minutes of new stuff and 45 minutes of rehash each week. Judging Amy got better this year, sort of. I thought that Vincent's return would be good but it's meandered off into the street kids thing which just isn't compelling. It's a rehash of what Amy and her mother do but not near as interesting and we don't need three characters on the same show doing basically the same thing. Medical Investigation is not getting better, it's slowly slipping down. Same thing each week and no growth in the characters. Waste of Neal McDonough who has shown that he can be really great with a really good role and that's not what he's got on this show. Without a Trace is the only one in this group that's moving up, good character growth, mostly interesting weekly plotlines, I've been more interested to see it each week.And the not worth mentioning (or watching)
CSI and ER plus one I haven't admitted watching, Third Watch. CSI has gone nowhere but down this season. With the addition of the incredibly annoying Sofia (I've taken to muting the sound during any portion of the show where she speaks) and the pointless bickering between Grissom and Catherine, it's just getting baaaaaad and not in a good way. ER has just completely disintegrated. It's become an excellent example of how a great show can become a really bad show in just a couple seasons. It's not just the new characters that are bad or boring or both, it's that they've wrecked the older characters, made them flattened caricatures of what they used to be. Third Watch, well, it's bad, very bad but at least it keeps moving. This is another example of how to ruin a great show in just two seasons. From the high after 9/11 to complete trash in two short years. I dunno why I keep watching, except that maybe it's like a train wreck, I can't stop looking until it all comes to a grinding, gnashing, ruined halt.2004-2005 Season: Just a Thought
Wednesday 10.27.2004
MattM || 10:09 AM
Was posting on a message board today when I read message from a person who was mourning the loss of Buffy and Angel and how much it was missed. It suprised me because I realized for the first time I didn't miss these shows nearly as much as I thought I would. Yes I would love to have Wheadon back on TV but I don't miss Buffy and Angel nearly as much as I thought I would. The reason why I don't is because the last two seasons have been incredibly strong seasons for TV. Producing some of the best shows on TV. I am not sure Buffy or Angel as they were when they ended would be in my top 5 right now. Last year we had Nip/Tuck, Joan of Arcadia, and a comeback from 24. This year we have Desparate Housewives, Rescue Me, Lost, Life as we know it, and a comeback from Enterprise. In short while we lost two great shows there has been more then enough great shows taking it's place. Two years ago, I thought TV was headed for a black period of creativety. Instead thanks to ABC desparation, FX's willingness to take chances. and NBC's fall from grace we have had probably the best two year streach I have ever seen in TV history. So for all those of you who are still mourning the loss of Buffy and Angel it is time to get back on the couch and turn the TV back on there is still shows every bit as good as those two on TV now.
2004-2005 Season: It's pretty dismal...
Wednesday 09.01.2004
alice ttlg || 04:02 PM
I haven't given much thought to the new season that started this week because there just isn't much to get excited about but here goes. In the past two years, I've had to split this up into three or four entries but there's so little this year I can do it all in one, covering both new and returning shows.
Sundays
Jack & Bobby Eeeesh, can they be more obvious? I guess I'll give it a watch for an ep or two but only because Christine Lahti's in it and she's a very good actress. Desparate Housewives An even worse title for a show! It's a soap obviously but the dead housewife watching them makes it sound a tiny bit intriguing so I guess I'll give it a watch for an ep or two. There's nothing else to watch on Sundays...Monday
LAX Another soap, Airport has been tried before and failed but they're giving it another shot. Heather Locklear is certainly a champion at this format but I'm not sure I care. Until January (when 24 starts), there's nothing else to watch except Airport on A&E...Tuesday
Veronica Mars I keep seeing commercials for this, the premise sounds pretty silly and it's another high school girl but since there's precious little on, I will probably watch it for an ep or two and see how it goes. Judging Amy This show improved greatly last year with the introduction of Adrian Pasdar, finally Amy has a real relationship. The season finale was way over the top but it was heartening to see Vincent return and if he's back as a regular, that will help the show enormously, if they'd lose Kyle, that would be even better, his character went off track completely this last year. Real World Gah. I really shouldn't even be thinking about watching this at all, last season really sucked, it was a frat house the whole way (let's count how many times one of them got drunk and did stupid things and got thrown in jail, sheesh) and the one interesting person gave up and left the show (I don't blame her a bit, she was a fish out of water).Wednesday
Smallville Um. Well. Maybe. This used to be one of my must-see shows but last year, with the exception of a few Lex-centric eps, was really not interesting at all. I guess I'll watch and see if Chloe's really dead and if Lois Lane shows up. The Mountain The main reason I'll give this a watch is for Mitch Pileggi, I keep hoping he'll get a good series again. Hawaii Michael Biehn and a couple others who look interesting are my main reason for watching, the premise looks boring, cop show, and set in Hawaii. Blah. Lost The only reason I'll watch this is because it's J. J. Abrams, the creator of Alias, but I don't expect it to be very good. CSI: New York This is one of the two promising shows this season, the pilot ep aired on CSI: Miami and it was bit distracting with David Caruso in it but it was still very good and I'm excited about this show! Rescue Me This show began this summer and it's the best of the best, if you're not already watching, keep an eye on the FX schedule, they usually rerun the entire series, sometimes in a marathon, sometimes two a night over a week, it's definitely worth catching.Thursday
Joey I don't have high hopes for this but I'll give it a watch. Tru CallingThis show got a whole lot better after Jason Priestley joined the cast halfway thru the season and it promises to be a very interesting second year. CSI and Without a Trace Decent shows, although Without a Trace pissed me off with the teaser at the end of the season that Anthony Lapaglia might be leaving the show. ER Another "um, er, maybe" show, I may give up on this one this year.Friday
Dr. Vegas This looks like another stinker from Rob Lowe but not quite as bad as last year's clunker so I'll give this one a watch. Medical Investigation This is the other promising show, it's got Neal McDonough from Boomtown and Christopher Gorham from Jake 2.0. The premise is pretty unrealistic but the cast may be able to make it work. Third Watch I might be bored enough to fall into the trap of watching this while waiting for Medical Investigations at 9pm. I will regret it tho.Saturday
As Time Goes By There is absolutely nothing on the main broadcast channels so I'm sticking with my favorite Britcom on PBS.And that's it! Pretty slim pickings and most of the new shows are really disappointing. With three of my favorite shows, Alias, 24 and The Shield, not starting till next year, there's just not much there to watch. I think I'll be going thru my Netflix queue a bit more quickly this fall....
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