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Third Watch 

5th season in review by alice ttlg
NBC's schedule... by alice ttlg
NBC by MattM
The Price of Nobility, 04/28/03 by MattM
Closing In, 04/21/03 by MattM
The Price of Nobility, 4/28/03 by alice ttlg
In Confidence, 04/14/03 by MattM
Everyone Lies, 04/07/03 by MattM
Last Call, 03/31/03 by MattM
Letting Go, 03/16/03 by MattM
10-13, 02/24/03 by MattM
Collateral Damage: Part II, 02/10/03 by MattM
The Networks must die! by alice ttlg
Collateral Damage: Part I, 02/03/03 by MattM
Snowblind, 01/27/03 by MattM
Collateral Damage, Part 1, 2/3/03 by alice ttlg
Castles of Sand, 01/13/02 by MattM
Second Chances, 01/06/03 by MattM
Crime and Punishment: Part II, 12/09/02 by MattM
Crime and Punishment: Part I, 12/02/02 by MattM
Holiday Meanderings Part I, Sunday and Monday by alice ttlg
Ladies Day, 11/18/02 by MattM
Firestarter, 11/11/02 by MattM
Judgement Day, Parts 1 & 2, 10/28/02 by MattM
Crash and Burn, 10/21/02 by MattM
To Protect..., 10/16/02 by MattM
To Protect, 10/14/02 by alice ttlg
The Chosen Few, 10/07/02 by MattM
Lights Up, 09/30/02 by MattM
Lights Up, 09/30/02 by alice ttlg
Monday Nights by MattM
Review by alice ttlg
Matt's Awards by MattM
Blackout (Air Date 5/13/02) by MattM
Two Hundred and Thirty Three Days (Air date 5/6/02) by MattM
Review by alice ttlg
Unleashed (Air Date: 4/29/02) by MattM
| Home |

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Third Watch: 5th season in review

Sunday 06.06.2004

alice ttlg || 11:36 PM

I finally give up on this show. It's amazing, and amazingly sad, how far it has fallen since that incredible third season after 9/11. They handled 9/11 so well, interwove a wonderful tribute to the firefighters and cops and the city throughout that whole third season only to let it all go to hell near the end of the fourth season and it only got worse in the 5th season. I hung in there thru the whole thing but it just got wilder and wilder and more unbelievable and out of character as it went along so that I couldn't even stand to watch Bosco and Faith anymore, my two favorite characters. It's just a huge mess now and I give up.

What really drew me into this show was the ordinariness of it, the day to day lives of cops and firefighters as normal people with kids, wives & husbands (both current and ex-) and drycleaning to pick up and groceries to buy and light bills to pay. And in between, in their jobs, it was either total boredom or total adrenaline. It was a great bunch of people who fought and yelled and screamed and hated each other and liked each other and stuck by each other, just like real people.

So many excellent relationships, Doc and Carlos, Bosco and Faith, Sully and Davis, Jimmy and Kim and Kim and Bobby, Alex, hmm, she never did really get paired up did she, sometimes she was Kim's partner but officially she was a firefighter so she didn't have a partner there. Some of the relationships were romantic/sexual but the best of them weren't, they were about the bond you develop when you work that closely with someone, Bosco and Faith, and Doc and Carlos are the best examples of that. Faith was also one of my favorites in the show because she looked like ordinary people look. Faith wasn't thin (that's the one problem I had with Alex, no way this tiny chick could lift the 70 lb packs they had to carry!), Faith wasn't pretty - she could look pretty when she dressed up - in her uniform, she was just an ordinary person.

Carlos and Doc, such an odd couple but you could see it each episode, each season, how Carlos learned from Doc, not just how to be a really good paramedic, but how to be a human being, how to care about others. The arc with his baby was very well done, they did an excellent job showing how he wanted to keep the baby, to remake his own child with this child, give her all the things he never had and yet, it also wasn't the right time for him and in the end he did what was right for the baby instead of what he wanted. That was a huge step for him. I wish they had followed thru with that, let him get seriously involved with someone, it would have made sense that giving Kylie up would have been a turning point for him, a moment to make a sharp right turn in his life, but they let it drop.

And it's gone for me now, I don't want to even talk about the mess they made in the 5th season with the outlandish over the top plot lines and the rough shoving in and out of characters, I felt like someone had swapped Third Watch for some daytime soap show. I should have stopped watching after the fourth season, like I did with West Wing so I could pretend it got cancelled then and only remember the good stuff. Sigh.

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2003-2004 Season, Boomtown, Crossing Jordan, ER, Ed, Frasier, Friends, Happy Family, Judging Amy, Las Vegas, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, Lyon's Den, Third Watch: NBC's schedule...

Monday 05.12.2003

alice ttlg || 04:36 PM

Eeeesh. ALL the descriptions on the NBC site for the new shows are so dripping with marketing-speak, they are truly horrendous! Badly written, overblown and thoroughly sensationalized. Ack.

See the show grid for the NBC Fall Preview and click on the spoiler link below to read the rest of my comments.

 ...there be spoilers below...

Sunday

Hmmm, looks like I may not be watching NBC at all on Sundays, I never watched American Dreams (useless glamorized nostalgia), L&O: CI was good sometimes but usually bad more than good and so uneven, I got tired of wasting time watching it hoping it would be good. And Lyon's Den sounds so unbelievable and soap-opera-ish, in spite of a few good people in the cast, it hardly seems worth watching. Matt Craven is good, I first saw him years ago in High Incident, a terrific cop drama with a great cast that got cancelled after one season. Frances Fisher, I've seen her in other things, can't recall what right now but I think she's good too. But Rob Lowe's character....eesh. Yeah sure, the managing partner dies and they decide to pick a young guy running their street law clinic to bump all the way up to managing partner overnight??? Why don't they throw in a bridge for sale while they're at it?

Monday

Fear Factor, I don't watch reality shows. 'nuff said.

Tuesday

Whoopi, Happy Family, again the descriptions are really badly written, but I like Whoopi, if they don't overdo the one-liners, it could be good and John Larroquette and Christine Barranski sound like a good match, they could really make the show good, but the kids sound atrocious. I'll give them both a chance since I'm taping Frasier at 8pm anyway. I'll skip Good Morning, Miami tho just like I did when it was on Thursdays too, I've never cared for Heather Locklear in comedic roles. L&O:SVU at 9pm, hmmm. So now I'll have three mediocre shows to watch at 9pm on Tuesdays, Judging Amy, NYPD Blue and SVU. I'm about to stop watching NYPD Blue tho because they've totally massacred Connie's character, done a complete 180 on her this season, taken her from being a strong female cop, able to hold her own in the squad to this wimpy nagging thing with a father fixation for Andy, the whole Andy/Connie/baby plot line just makes me gag. Judging Amy is still good tho, I think I'll skip both SVU and Blue and just watch Amy.

Wednesday

Er, didn't NBC move Ed to Fridays? Why are they moving it back? Just couldn't find anything better to put there??? West Wing could really start sucking next year with Aaron Sorkin and Tommy Schlamme leaving, but I'll keep watching and see how it goes. I dropped L&O ages ago, they stopped doing all the stuff that made it so good the first six or seven years.

Thursday

Friends, Scrubs, Will & Grace, Coupling, the last one sounds terrible and I have no interest in it but I think it will do fantastic, it'll fit right in with the other shows and get good ratings. But I never liked Scrubs and Will & Grace went to hell in a handbasket two seasons ago. Friends has been pretty bad this year, I guess I'll stick it out thru their last year but I don't have any expectation that it'll improve. ER was pretty bad too this last year, it's been renewed for two more years, I dunno, maybe it's time to start watching CSI and Without a Trace instead of taping them.

Friday

Miss Match could actually be pretty good, the plot is reminiscent of Clueless and if they do it right, it could work. And there's nothing else to watch on Fridays (I want my John Doe!) while waiting for Boomtown in L&O: SVU's old time slot.

Saturday

Nothing but movies here, but the rumor is that Crossing Jordan will go here at 9pm when it returns mid-season, that's the kiss of death for it. And what happened to the spin-off for Woody?

It's interesting to note that NBC only has six new shows, they're keeping most stuff, I suspect all the other networks will have more new shows than NBC. Overall, best shows on NBC are Boomtown and, and...well, Boomtown. West Wing, Third Watch and ER are iffy but the sitcom lineup on Tuesdays could be good.

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2003-2004 Season, Boomtown, Frasier, Happy Family, Las Vegas, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, Lyon's Den, Third Watch: NBC

Monday 05.12.2003

MattM || 03:28 PM

Ok the first one out of the gate is NBC and despite Variety's bogus reporting Boomtown is being moved UGH. Click on the spoilers link for the breakdown and my thoughts.

 ...there be spoilers below...

Mondays

Fear Factor - Waste of a good hour on TV. Bad show worst concept when is this going to go away? Las Vegas - Well score on for simple to the point naming. This show has pedigree with good actors and a solid written, directing, and producing cast and its worth a watch but um the descripations sounds bad. Really really bad. I am going to give it a whirl because James Caan is very good and Molly Sims, Nikki Cox are solid but here is the shows premise:     You can bet on high stakes and high-speed action in this adrenaline-fueled drama from the writer of The Fast and the Furious (ok thats not a good sign either). Big Ed Deline, former CIA, runs the best surveillance company in Vegas. Big Ed's best employee is Danny McCoy, an ex-Marine and Vegas native, who loves living life in the fast lane. Mike Cannon, head valet, keeps track of who's coming and going. Mary Connell, Danny's childhood friend, is a high-class escort who has a knack for learning people's darkest secrets. Danny's best source just might be Jane, the savvy new casino host. Both exude a seductive style -- a lot like the city itself. Third Watch - I am giving this show a trial run after such a horrid season but given its pattern it might be good this year. I think the time slot bump is probably better for it in the long run.

Tuesdays

Whoopi - I will NEVER EVER watch anything other then STNG (and god that was horrible enough) with Whoopi in it. She is overrated this series will suck and go down in flames. Happy Family - Really good cast (Larroquette and Baranski) and Solid Pedigree but this just looks HORRIBLE. Might give it a shot but I have little or no hope for this bizairre family sitcom about parents who think they are going to be empty nester but kids all come home for varying reasons. Larrquette seems really out of place in this. Frasier - This one lost me a long time ago. Good Morning Miami - Sucked without Heather Locklear and will suck even more with her. L&O: SVU - Interesting Time move will have to see what this does to the series since its has been solid in Friday's 9 pm slot for so long.

Wednesday

Man I thought we didn't like Ed in the 7 slot here well this scedule is back to what has been for the last two years really kind of weird.

Thursdays

Same as it has been for a while. Friends and ER did not have a good year so I hope they bounce back. Will and Grace jumped the shark a long time ago. Scrubs I never got and then theres.... Coupling - Some British TV redo for America which about seeing how many times they can couple possible pairings. This of course equals another Thursday night flop.

Fridays

Miss/Match - Alicia Silverstones come back vehicle about divorice lawyer by day match maker by night somehow I think Alicia hit her peak in Clueless and hit rock bottem with Batman....until now. Any show that says in its press release says 1) Based on a true story REALLY! and 2) juggles the conflicting world of divorice and true love is in deep deep trouble. Boomtown - Following dateline at 8 this might be an ok slot if it can grab the SVU audience which I think it could and do ok here but still this is hard slot to do much with.

Sundays

American Dreams - Never got this show except it seems to be about pop stars playing old pop stars. L&O: CI - No surprise here Lyon's Den - This looks like a mutant practice drama. Still the role does seem to fit Lowe pretty well as the do-gooder in the house of evil and the pedigree is there. Of all the NBC new shows this one looks like the best bet to be something but then again none of the NBC new shows look like much of anything it would be ironic if NBC produces only one good new show and its in the same slot as its one good show (that survived) from last year.

Bottom Line:The new shows look bad on NBC. I am not sure any of these will make more then a season run. The old shows kept most of their slots but the changes might be for the better or could kill Boomtown. I have a sinking feeling by mid season Boomtown will be replaced by SVU on Fridays.

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Third Watch: The Price of Nobility, 04/28/03

Monday 05.05.2003

MattM || 11:27 PM

I don't even know where to begin. This episode this season was so bad it actually makes Emily's stupidity the better parts. I won't down grade it to red just yet. I give it three episodes next season but if this crap continues I am done watching it. This was just pure and simple garbage. The whole Cruz/Boscoe/Yokas triangle was so over done so stupid (what was her sister any way cause she sure wasn't hispanic) and the ending with Noble and all them god it was like I hope they all end up dead. Then theres Alex and your going to tell me Bosco doesn't call in that the car is carrying high combustible cannisters???? Uh yea right whatever guys. Doc is going to take the place of the Louie? Yuck.......Friends and this can't decide which is the bigger disappointment but what a fall for both shows.

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Third Watch: Closing In, 04/21/03

Friday 05.02.2003

MattM || 10:38 AM

Eh an ok episode but nothing really great still after the horriblness of this season this might have been a great episode by that standard. Emily's dumb blah blah. Faith feels bad blah blah. Boscoe is screwed blah blah. Faith won't help him which seems pretty cold but eh whatever. The real Aaron Noble might be dead or whatever but this guy is probably Buford and he set them in for a trap and now we get to find out how Alex dies (thank you TV Guide). John Wells has really ruined this series and now he is set to do the same to West Wing.......At the end of the last TV season I predicted dark days and rarely before have I been so right.

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Third Watch: The Price of Nobility, 4/28/03

Monday 04.28.2003

alice ttlg || 09:30 PM

 ...there be spoilers below...

I shouldn't watch dramatic TV shows when I'm feeling like this, not when they're doing their season finales and killing people off suddenly and gruesomely. Even tho there wasn't that much blood, it was just really icky and very sudden, even tho I suspected Taylor was going to die (I saw Veronica Hamel listed in the TV Guide synopses and that tipped me off) and I saw what was going to happen in advance, that the cannister in the car was going to blow (what was that stuff?), but I didn't see that coming, how they would kill her, breaking her in half like that. ick.

Good stuff with Bosco and Faith tho, I hope it's a turning point for him, get him back on track and being a good cop. But we have to wait till September!!! to see who got shot and if anyone died. Let's see, what do I think will happen? I haven't read any spoiler stuff for this show at all so this is purely my speculation... Faith gets shot but lives? Bosco kills Maritza in defense of Faith? Noble runs away, schnook of a guy that he is.

Doc is going to accept the promotion, what's that mean? He'll be working downtown and off the show? Or he's going to take over at the station, Lt. Johnson's job since that guy got so badly burned he'll be off the force?

And the actor that plays Jimmy, the fireman, has signed to be the lead in another NBC show so if it gets picked up, he'll be off Third Watch, I guess. He wasn't even in the finale at all, guess he's off filming the pilot of the new show.

So next year could be interesting, shake things up a bit, maybe it'll be better than this year, it just seemed so fragmented and all over the place, lots of focus on Bosco and Faith and while I like them, I like the ensemble better and they did such an incredible job after 9/11 but this last season, it's like they lost their compass and just wandered around aimlessly.

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Third Watch: In Confidence, 04/14/03

Thursday 04.24.2003

MattM || 11:24 AM

And I thought 24's Kim was stupid, annoying and the most in need of a bitch slap then along came Emily. God what a horribly done plot line that is. They take everything bad about teenagers and blow it up. They take all the stereotypes and make it worse. If I was a teenager watching this show personally I would beating my TV into a pulp. I don't know what happened to this show god it used to be sooooo good. Then the whole thing with Cruz and Bosco is just weird and dumb and Berenger who hasn't been good in anything since Platoon is adding absolutly zero to this fading season. I don't know if this show will be back but if it isn't I won't miss at the way it is now and if it is I will give it a few watches but unless we get the first season people back or the third season people back this show isn't worth the time.

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Third Watch: Everyone Lies, 04/07/03

Monday 04.21.2003

MattM || 01:45 PM

A pretty weak way to get Carlos back on and seemed all rather pointless but very typical of the way its been handled. One week everyone hates him the next everyone loves him. One week he is gone with no way back and the next throw a little pixie dust on it and its all gone away. Pretty stupid and way off in Hollywood fantasy land. Then theres that horrible Berenger character they introduced with this evil tell all book about cops and hitting on Kim. Then Faith and Boscoe spilit up. I don't know its hard to get into this series or care much at this point considering how awful it has been this year.

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Third Watch: Last Call, 03/31/03

Wednesday 04.16.2003

MattM || 11:59 AM

Yes this was a good episode in showing different things but I just hated it none the less. I am tired of and hate what they have done to Sully's character. Suddenly he is taking the blame and changing the story of Ty's father dying. All of it seems so soap operaish now where as before it was bout the day to day lives with a lot of realism and now its just turned into David Kelly land.

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Third Watch: Letting Go, 03/16/03

Monday 03.31.2003

MattM || 02:23 AM

I flat have no idea what to make of this show any more. I loved this show in the first season the second season was weak but the third was strong and this one is weak and thats being nice about it. That being said its about time we had the whole cast in an episode. I don't think thats happened once all season. I know Jimmy is all but cut out as he is leaving the show and still not sure how they are going to work that out but heres a bet Jimmy gets killed in the last show of the season. Carlos and Doc er ok really not sure what or how to make of it all but I think they handled it well with him coming to terms that he does want to be a paramedic but then they went with this whole firing him because of the lawsuit angle which is so dumb because now he can sue get his job back blah blah blah. Then Sully dropping Davis on to the airbag um hello other cop standing behind Sully and just standing there picking his nose? Come on reality check please. You let go of the crazy woman and help him any cop does that in a heart beat. I am so sick of the whole Faith and family crap at this point theres no need to comment on that even. This show has fallen so hard and fast might not be as dramatic as a decline as friends but still pretty big drop off.

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Third Watch: 10-13, 02/24/03

Friday 02.28.2003

MattM || 03:50 PM

Although I do agree what they did with Sully was neccessary because of the box they put themselves in about his wife (it would have been much better without the Russian Mob plot line), I am happy that they seem to be taking steps to getting the old Sully back. Faith and Boscoe and the sergent plot line is good but man the story line is just weird. What happened to that first sergent he was working with? Also why was her sister Asian or do they just think we can't tell the difference? Then theres that whole Doc and his robbing the craddle more weirdness. On top of all that no more Jimmy. Since he is leaving the show to do Street Lawyer on NBC. The same thing I bitch about on ER has happened here I think this is a John Wells thing. Less soap opera more day to day grind and thats the only way this show can bounce back to what it once was.

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Third Watch: Collateral Damage: Part II, 02/10/03

Tuesday 02.18.2003

MattM || 11:11 AM

The only reason this show isn't a red at this point was the whole not naming the baby Maurice and that is IT. There was nothing redeeming about this episode except that. The whole say no to drugs speech to Emily was one of the stupidest things I have seen on TV. Then him banging her after her sister died was so predictably dumb. The grateful mother names her baby and gives up the evil old man. Blah blah. Then what the hell is Faith and Bosco in the Academy what the hell up in the first season they gave us the impression that Faith was the veteren and Bosco was the hot shot younger cop not to long out of the academy. I really hated that whole story bit. I love this show I really did but they have really just totally ruined everything good about it and I haven't even started on the Carlos thing. Yes I will continue to subject myself to torture and watch this show until the start of 5th season but if they do not turn it around then I am walking away.

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CSI: Miami, Miracles, Third Watch: The Networks must die!

Monday 02.17.2003

alice ttlg || 07:11 PM

Arrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh! Stupid Fricking Networks that have to have dueling Michael Jackson specials so Third Watch isn't on and Miracles isn't on! Which leaves only shows I hate, Everybody Loves Raymond (NOT me!), CSI: Miami, Fear Factor and other dreck!
 

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Third Watch: Collateral Damage: Part I, 02/03/03

Tuesday 02.11.2003

MattM || 02:46 PM

I really hope at the end of this horrible season that John Wells and Co. go back and look at first season and realize what they have done to a once great and very underrated series. The bottom line to this is that Wells and Co. sold out. Instead of going for quality they fell into the David Kelly trap of sensationalism over quality. Now the series is just stuck in this cycle and repeating itself half the time. Even the good parts are become stale and tired. Yes, I still will keep this series at yellow but I doubt after I see the conclusion it will still be a yellow most likely an orange. The number one thing that bugs me is the fascination of Emily but after that is this we hate Carlos he's terrible he's awful then poof he's the best paramedic and he's just misunderstood. You can't have it both ways people make your commitment and stick with it.

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Third Watch: Snowblind, 01/27/03

Thursday 02.06.2003

MattM || 12:17 AM

Its a good thing I already have this show at yellow because it certainly proved it was that and its just barely hanging on to that. God this used to be one of the better shows on TV but as has been the pattern the even number seasons have been horrific. This one is their worst season ever. I am so sick of the Emily story lines. ENOUGH already. Ok we did two things right but I am just a little sick of this. Can't something good happen to her maybe? Can't she be a good kid instead of a problem? ENOUGH with Emily. Then there was that whole weird thing about the happy Sullivan. Hello Middle ground? Then Doc calling Carlos his best paramedic? And just last week he was saying all Carlos cared about was the money. Hello Consistency? I wish they would bring back the writers from first and third seasons because clearly these are all new writers because the quality bears no resemblence to those seasons.

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Third Watch: Collateral Damage, Part 1, 2/3/03

Tuesday 02.04.2003

alice ttlg || 04:09 PM

This episode was rather flat, one of those fillers to get from point A, last week's action packed ep, to point B, next week's action packed conclusion. Lots of exposition here, so they can let us know that Cruz has a drug addict sister which ties in with Faith's daughter's drug overdose which makes it something Bosco is interested in and some more filler about Carlos' harrassment case. But not so much to get me involved, Emily never seemed in serious danger this ep, the stuff about Faith's parents and her husband has mostly been covered before and even the fight between Faith and her mother didn't really draw me in, it was obviously her stress over her daughter and it was also obvious that she'd regret saying what she did fairly quickly.

Next week promises a good fire and rescue scene, I hope it lives up to that, it's been awhile since the firefighting side of the show has had much of anything to do. But I think these three eps, last week, this week and next week would have been better off as a two parter.

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Third Watch: Castles of Sand, 01/13/02

Saturday 01.25.2003

MattM || 12:17 PM

Argh what are they doing to this show. They seem to be pushing Carlos out the door and Doc and Kim being judgemental is a joke. Kim has been a slut in this show and Doc is banging a girlfriend of a patient who is half his age. I think that was way over done and way unneccessary to beat us over the head like that. I am not sure what this show is planning but it is not very good right now. Faith and Bosco was good and interesting as usual but as has been the way it has been for this season the rest of the cast was all but forgotten. It saddens me a lot to say this but this show has slipped all the way from green to yellow and I just don't have much hope if it being as good as it was in the first and third seasons again.

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Third Watch: Second Chances, 01/06/03

Saturday 01.11.2003

MattM || 12:24 AM

Finally!!!! An episode that finally got back to what makes this show work. We finally saw a story that had the entire cast instead of just Faith and Bosco. This was clearly their best work this season to date with very compelling realistic story lines from Faith having to tell her daughter how many people she has killed and showing that impact it has on a person. Also showing Sullivan finally starting to heal from his wife's death in a very subtle manner. I think Eve did a fantastic job as the new paramedic although I doubt she is long for the job. I also liked how she is competent as any medic including Doc but lacks the handling of people and still has so much to learn. Even though Jimmy and Alex were only involved in a minor sense I can deal with that. They don't have to have everyone going all at once but more then just one story line and showing not just high profile things but the real day to day lives of the cops, firefighters and paramedics of the 55th is what makes this work.

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Third Watch: Crime and Punishment: Part II, 12/09/02

Thursday 12.19.2002

MattM || 06:23 AM

Really just more of the same. I liked the Bosco seeing both sides of the fence. The at all costs way and the right way. That was interesting and done well. I liked how they have both his mentors are women despite his sometimes not so enlightened view of women. Still I really don't like how Kim and Alex get 5 seconds here and Jimmy is ignored once again. Is there even a fire department anymore? I miss the blended cast even if the stuff they do is good. I am getting rather tired of this Carlos versus Doc stuff they either need to be split up or Carlos has to change/grow a little. Lastly the whole Sully and Davis stuff seems so forced at times and the oh she wasn't raped she let it happen was a bit much. I really don't like how they have taken Sully characters although I realize they have little choice. I wish they had just let him have some happiness with his Russian bride instead of having this whole Russian Mob angle. It seemed to me that whole thing was just to get a couple big name guest stars. I like some of this stuff this show did but seeing first year again on A&E just reminds me of how great this show was and still could be.

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Third Watch: Crime and Punishment: Part I, 12/02/02

Thursday 12.12.2002

MattM || 02:59 AM

Alot to like and alot to hate. Sully's character is just awful right now. I think they are going to ruin him. The great thing about Sully's character was that it was the shows rock Sully was the one to be counted on and I just hate this overdramatic thing they got going on. The Bosco working on anti-crime that I like. The Doc dating this young woman is creepy. Faith and Jimmy and others were largely ignored. So again it makes me miss the first season badly. This show would be great if it just stuck to meat and potatoes but it wants to be Boston Public with a badge.

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2002-2003 Season, Boomtown, Boston Public, CSI: Miami, Crossing Jordan, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Practice, Third Watch: Holiday Meanderings Part I, Sunday and Monday

Saturday 12.07.2002

alice ttlg || 10:33 PM

So here were are, almost at the midway point, just about to hit the dry weeks of Christmas and New Year's and I thought I take some time to review the fall so far and make some resolutions about what to watch next year and what to stay away from. :)

Sunday

Bram and Alice, gone, good riddance, the girl was great, she'd been in other things I liked, but the show sucked and so did the guy playing her father. Boomtown, Absolute Best New Show of the Season! When I first wrote this up in September, I called it a clone of Third Watch and I expected it to be an average show, but I have to eat my words, it's become the best thing on TV, due to its storytelling style and a great cast topped by Donnie Wahlberg. I look forward to Sunday evenings now just like I waited anxiously for Thursdays back in the 80's to watch Hill Street Blues. Alias, the Practice, Angel: Alias started off well and just keeps going just like the Energizer bunny! The Practice stunk last spring and outside of a few moments, it's been pretty stinko ever since. Angel....fairly mediocre to start with, then I got hopeful as it picked up some and then they threw in Cordelia being pregnant and I tossed the show down to a yellow. It may hit orange before the end of the season. I loved Angel in the first two seasons and in the third up until the moment Darla gave birth/died. Ever since then, it's been downhill, Cordy's pregnancy was the last straw for me. The only reason I haven't rated it lower is because it's Joss Whedon. Law & Order: CI, it's been up and down, some eps have been really good and some have been awful and boring, mostly it's been better more times than bad but it's still very uneven.

Monday

Third Watch, started off strong but it's gotten a bit off since then. Much as Bosco and Faith are my two favorite characters, even I miss the old ensemble feel to the show. I know that Kim Raver is pregnant but what happened to everyone else? They've all just disappeared while it turns into the Bosco & Faith show. Crossing Jordan, Boston Public, 7th Heaven: Fair, stinko and fair. Crossing Jordan started off with the mother obsession but then it actually got better and I like the romance thing with Woody, I hope they take that further. Boston Public, waste of words to talk about it, bad plots, bad characters, just bad, bad, bad. 7th Heaven kind of ran off the rails with the dad's heart operations and the whole Lucy always being mad or jealous or both over Kevin is really getting old, they need to move on to other plot lines and resolve that one already. And Kevin's brother needs to go home for good, sheesh. CSI: Miami, I think Kim Delaney ruined this show. Even tho she's gone, it doesn't look to be getting much better. I'll give it a few more eps in January... Girls Club: Sigh. This turned out to be surprisingly good so, of course, Fox cancelled it after only two eps. Sheesh, why couldn't they have cancelled stinko Boston Public or the Practice instead?

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Third Watch: Ladies Day, 11/18/02

Friday 11.29.2002

MattM || 01:33 PM

I have watched this show from season 1 episode 1. I loved how this effortless interwove the different people of the 55 together Police, Fire, and Rescue. What the hell has happened to that? Ok I understand that Kim Raver is pregant now but why not just sign someone to ride shot gun with Alex for a little while so her character can have something to do. There is no reason why they can't heck theres no reason why Kim can't get pregant either heck she has slept around some during this shows run. I really hate that they have just gone to this focus on one character and have every other one have like 5 seconds. I like the story line and I like the story in general but when I watch this show I miss first and third seasons so badly and I wish they would go back to that. Instead of showing us what every day life is like for them they have gone into this David Kelly sensualism of issues. If I wanted to watch him I would turn on Boston Public or Practice but here what I want is what I used to get an effortless interwoven story of the people of the 55 and their every day lives. I love Bosco and Faith and I like this episode but I miss everyone else.

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Third Watch: Firestarter, 11/11/02

Friday 11.22.2002

MattM || 09:44 PM

I liked this episode in some ways because of Bosco arc but the things they are doing with Sully I really do not like. It seems they are pushing him off to the side just so they can have Davis be a driver. They are more and more ignoring certain members of the cast. This show continues to be so erratic. Also Doc dating a woman half his age? I mean come on. This show is definatly slipping.

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Third Watch: Judgement Day, Parts 1 & 2, 10/28/02

Tuesday 11.05.2002

MattM || 08:09 AM

A throughly predictable episode designed solely to wrap what has been a bad story line for this series. I do hope now that have done this, they can move on and into the stuff that makes this series good. It used to be a show about 7 people instead of just 2. I do hope it gets back to the normal stuff instead of this over-dramatic story line.

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Third Watch: Crash and Burn, 10/21/02

Sunday 10.27.2002

MattM || 12:15 AM

This show definitely seems to be holding to form, unfortunately that means an uneven year is ahead. There was a lot to like about this episode such as Alex's momentary carelessness almost killing her (not that I want her to die but it was realistic) to the whole accident but still the episode seemed to miss its overall mark.

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Third Watch: To Protect..., 10/16/02

Sunday 10.20.2002

MattM || 09:31 AM

Will someone please tell me what has happened to Kim Raver? It has been three weeks since the season started and no sign of her. Her partner took two weeks to appear but now she's here and Kim's not. Very weird. I have watched this show from the beginning and they have never just not shown someone. This was not a very good episode, that being said, it seemed very forced and rather overdone. Alex's role in this seems just because she was small. There was no real plot moving forward just everyone coming together to save a kid. Then the dad goes and beats a child molester that he thought took the kid and that seemed sort of ignored in all this. I guess they were due a bad episode.

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Third Watch: To Protect, 10/14/02

Wednesday 10.16.2002

alice ttlg || 12:09 PM

One of their standard episodes done pretty well, based around the search for a missing kid along with some small developments in the characters, but mostly just back to business for all of them, a good ep.

I do hope tho that they go with what they've been hinting, letting Yokas pass the sergeant's exam and move Bosco into anti-crime. I loved the sergeant they had there, she was perfect for him, like he said in this ep, strong but not in your face about it. He could learn alot from her. And he could work on getting himself in trouble with the night watch sergeant he was ogling last ep, after all, a Bosco that doesn't get in trouble is no fun! :)

And moving Faith up to sergeant is the normal course of events for her, both for her home life and for her as a patrol officer, she's the type to move up and she would be really good at it too, she understands people well and she's good at knowing when to be tough and when to be compassionate. She's especially good with rookies, at helping them get started and it would be a natural progression for her character. Otherwise she just kind of stagnates. Sully's the type to be a patrol officer his whole career but not Faith.

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Third Watch: The Chosen Few, 10/07/02

Monday 10.14.2002

MattM || 06:26 PM

This episode was pretty good except for the Doc and his ex getting married, I thought that was unnecessary. I loved the stuff about Bosco being undercover as much as he can be and the two sergeants. I thought that was pretty funny. The stuff about Fred, I liked because it was realistic, being that close to death does funny things to you even if I didn't like the direction it takes the character. This series which came so close to cancellation in the off season and may not even make it into its fifth season is one of the best cop shows out there. I also can't wait to see how they deal with Sully who finally finds someone only to find out that she isn't what he thought she was.

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Third Watch: Lights Up, 09/30/02

Thursday 10.10.2002

MattM || 06:45 PM

This show has really come into its own and every cop show should take note. Since September 11th, this show has really found a voice and a purpose in not only showing the job itself but the personal struggles each cop deals with and copes with. We see Faith not only as a cop but as a wife and a mother and that is just one of many examples. This episode was very strong on many fronts. Although I really hope they do not kill Fred.

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Third Watch: Lights Up, 09/30/02

Monday 09.30.2002

alice ttlg || 09:10 PM

One of the best damn shows! Third Watch, great cliffhanger last May and and great premiere this September. Wow, Yokas and Bosco, heck of a way to tell the truth and he did a good job pretending for her that he didn't pay any attention to what she said but it was plain on his face when she was saying it, that he knew she meant it all, every word. And that he knew there was truth in what she said, too.

Sully and his Russian wife, I never understood why it was such a surprise to him that she was a hooker, I just assumed she was the minute he met her, something about her, about how quickly she came on to him, especially when she found out he had a good job and wasn't married, figuring he would be an easy catch to help her get a green card, take care of her.

But I don't like that he lied to her, said he believed her and then took her prints to check. I think he's smart to check her prints but I don't like the lie, it reduces him to her level, she's lying and he's lying too, her lie doesn't make his lie okay.

The face off between Carlos and Doc has been coming for a long time, Carlos may be a cocky young punk who thinks he knows everything but he has a point, Doc is way too used to giving orders, way too used to everyone calling him Doc, way too used to being the authority.

And Davis, that's Sean Young playing the woman, I wonder if they'll start something? And who is that girl playing Faith's daughter, Emily? I know I've seen her somewhere and she was really good but I can't place her. She's great in the part, being a junior Faith, in control, in charge and I loved her facing down Bosco when he was being his usual snotty self the first time.

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2002-2003 Season, Boston Public, CSI: Miami, Third Watch: Monday Nights

Saturday 09.07.2002

MattM || 11:20 PM

The new shows on Monday night consist of 3 dramas and 2 sitcoms. Clearly the most eagerly awaited show is CSI: Miami. I was not overwhelmed by the introduction of this show last season and I am still unsure if this is going to be good. All the pieces are in place to make this as big as CSI but will they give its own distinct flavor or will it just be more of the same? Will they change (here's hoping they do) Catherine Duke's character because if I have to listen to a full season of her prattling to the dead bodies I am turning my TV off. The other two dramas are more than likely going to be horrible. Girl's Club and Everwood continue to show that there is no such thing as an orginal thought in Hollywood. Everwood aka The Male Version of the Gillmore girls will be a total flop. Girl's Club aka Ally McBeal 2 will more than likely succeed at first with great reviews and then crash and burn like all David Kelly shows. The two sitcoms are Half and Half and Still Standing show no potential at all. Still Standing is about a couple with a rebellous daughter, a geek of a son, and a young daughter that still loves her parents. This has to be the 20 gadzillionth recarnation of this concept and they rarely work. Adding to this is the no-name cast. Half and Half about two half sisters who are total opposites is also a dud and in its 20 gadzillionth recarnation.

As for the returning shows on Monday that I watch, Third Watch and Boston Public are very much enigmas to me. Third Watch barely survived for a 4th season and has been good one year and bad the next. Which means it is due for a bad year but here's hoping that the series has found itself and will have yet another year. Boston Public is yet another David Kelly show bent on self destruction. The Supremes are broken up but the New Kid on the Block joins the show. I have a strong feeling that come October I will quit watching this show in disgust.

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Third Watch: Review

Thursday 09.05.2002

alice ttlg || 10:13 PM

I love this show! I started watching a year ago, summer reruns and now I'm catching up on the first three years with the A&E reruns. Bosco, chasing every skirt around and so worried about his virility, Faith is a saint for putting up with him and seeing something more than his rudeness and obnoxious attitude. Sully getting out of the squad car, looking up at the sun, you figure he's enjoying the nice sunny day, until he tells his rookie part that you look up when you get out of the car to see if they're throwing anything from the windows of the upper floors and to walk on the sides of the steps because the dealers grease the stairs so cops can't chase them and oh yeah, watch out for roaches on the walls....LOL!

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24, Buffy, Dark Angel, Friends, Philly, Smallville, TV Awards, The Shield, Third Watch: Matt's Awards

Friday 06.07.2002

MattM || 01:05 AM

So here we are at the conclusion of a terrific television season with many, many highlights, something I don't have alot of hope for this coming season. So after watching all the shows (sorry, Witchblade, you're a summer series, see you next year), here are my own little Emmy awards. Personally, I think the Emmy judges wouldn't know good TV if it came up and bit them on the ass so, without further ado, here's my own categories and thoughts on this season.

Best New Show: This year this was hugely tough because of an influx of terrific new shows. Next year, I think, it will be tough to find one good one. This year, it came down to three shows: Alias, Smallville, and The Shield. I wrestled with this question in my mind for the last couple weeks, I feel so torn because I love each of those shows. However, in the end I give the award to The Shield, for the intrigue and characters and realism. This was a top notch show that reminds me of NYPD Blue in its first season. I think this show will grow into an elite show eventually. Honorable mention, though, I give to Alias for keeping us on the edge of our seats and guessing the whole way.

Best Season for a Returning Show: Another super tough decision that came down to two shows, Third Watch and Friends. In end, though I give it to Friends even if the last 5 minutes of the season finale killed me. Shows are not supposed to last 8 seasons and be this good yet Friends is a show that, with an unworkable formula, continues to defy the odds and norms. No show like this has ever worked before or since. Very few shows last 8 seasons without jumping the shark. Yet this was a steller season handling a pregancy that destroys all other shows and yet they made me laugh as hard as I did in the first few seasons. Honerable mention here goes to the most improved show Third Watch. The September 11th attack was horrible but may have actually given this show a new life. Always searching for its place, it finally did without overhyping or overdoing the attack. While Law and Order choose to ignore it, Third Watch played it just perfect and found itself.

Favorite New Lead: This one was pretty easy from start to finish. Jennifer Garner for her work as Sydney Bristow was fascinating to watch and terrific acting throughout a breakthrough season. Honorable Mention goes to Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer although the show sometimes lagged and his "longest day of my life" thing was overdone, his acting throughout was a consistently high level, his best work since the Lost Boys.

Favorite Returning Lead: If someone had told me I would have given this nod to Jennifer Aniston, I would have laughed. Yet despite her being my least favorite actor on the series her performance this year was truly nop notch. Through out Friends' history, it's always been a balance but this year she really made the show go. Never straying to far into baby stupidity, she played her character perfect and made me laugh more at her lines then anyone else's. "Horny bitch" and "Sluts R Us" are lines that will live forever in my head. Honorable mention here goes to Sarah Michelle Gellar for playing a lost and reluctantly brought back Buffy. Although the Spuffy love stuff made me recoil, the job she did was perfect and realistic of someone who just didn't want to be there.

Favorite New Supporting Role: This one was easy. No doubt at all that Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor wins here. At times, he stole the show. Still the season finale clinched this for him. Seeing the part of the good Lex die and the evil Lex grow and all done with no lines whatsoever was one of the best acting jobs of the season. He wins this one in a landslide. Honorable mention here goes to Sarah Lively as Nina Meyers who we all thought was so good and fooled us for the entire year.

Favorite Returning Supporting Role: This goes to one of my favorite characters on all of TV. Allison Janney gave yet another reason why I watch West Wing. Forget the men on this show, the women are fascinating to watch all by themselves. The press conferences and her job and then caring about a reporter who had ripped the Bartlett administration was absolutely awesome to watch. Honorable mention here goes to another Allison, this time Allison Hannigan on Buffy for the struggles of Willow and her dealing with addiction and loss and the dark side.

Lastly, before I wrap this up, I want to say farewell to series that should not have been cancelled. Fox once again shows just how truly stupid they are by canceling two great series in Titus and Dark Angel. Also, Philly should have been given more time although its last few shows were just average. Overall, a great season for TV but dark days are ahead.

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Third Watch: Blackout (Air Date 5/13/02)

Thursday 05.16.2002

MattM || 11:52 PM

A terrific end to a great season. I do hope they don't kill off Faith's husband as their relationship has been one of the stronger points of the series. The blackout story was also great because it showed how something seemingly benign as a blackout can start so nice and even seem kind of fun and turn quickly into a nightmarish hell with one incident and too much drinking. Congrats to NBC for having the courage to keep the series going for a fourth season and here's hoping next season continues to improve.

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Third Watch: Two Hundred and Thirty Three Days (Air date 5/6/02)

Friday 05.10.2002

MattM || 11:54 PM

After a horrible episode, Third Watch bounces back with an episode that is one of their finest to date. I loved seeing the formality and rituals of a fallen firefighter from being found to being buried. It was a very fitting tribute to all the brave men and women who saved so many and lost so many of their own. Bruce Weitz made a wonderful speech at the end of it, although I hardly recognized him. Ed Marino was useless and just detracted from a better story line of the gay brother. And Veronica Hamel was solid as Alex's mother but boy, she must have gotten her looks from her dad, haha. Even the subplots were excellent. Excellent episode, I can't wait for the season finale.

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Third Watch: Review

Sunday 05.05.2002

alice ttlg || 01:01 PM

And while we're on the subject, I'll throw in my general review of the show. I initially watched a couple eps of this show back when it started and I liked some of it, Bosco stood out in particular (but he's hard to ignore! ) but I dunno, it just didn't really catch my attention, iirc, there were a lot of cop and hospital shows that year and it was just overload. So I stuck to watching ER instead.

Last summer, there wasn't much on and I happened to watch an ep one Monday night and it was good so I kept watching all summer and got hooked. Then came 9/11 and the terrific documentary they did and the first couple eps of the season dealing with it and it's been a persistent thread throughout the whole season this year and they've done such a marvelous job of dealing with it, especially with Bosco, making it all real and personal without simply sensationalizing it just for ratings. A wonderful tribute to the real firefighters and police officers in NYC and a great season for this show.

The relationship between Bosco and Faith was one of the main reasons I got hooked on the show last summer, such an odd couple and yet she deals with him so well, seeing not only his prejudice and obnoxious rudeness but also his vulnerability and how much he does really care and he cares for her, he plays a tough guy but a lot of what happens out on the street, what he sees every day really affects him. And with 9/11 as a backdrop, the writers have done a great job bringing that out and showing how isolated he is, his family is wrapped up in their own problems and creating problems for him at times, Faith is his one real friend out of it all.

And the show didn't succumb to the usual thing of having any male/female couple get romantically involved, they've done the unusual instead, portrayed a real deep friendship and partnership between these two, all of it, including her husband's jealousy over Faith's commitment to her job and to Bosco and he rags on her about that, wanting her to focus on their family, on their future. But then sometimes he realizes just how much Bosco needs Faith, the ending of the ep a few weeks ago where Bosco shows up was really amazing, he finally admits how much 9/11 really got to him and admits what he sees as his failure to go back into that horrendous scene, really amazing writing and acting. (Matt, that's why you gave this show a green rating!)

So go watch it! And this fall, A&E is supposed to start rerunning the show from the beginning, watch that too! :)

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Third Watch: Unleashed (Air Date: 4/29/02)

Saturday 05.04.2002

MattM || 11:12 PM

I swear I like these shows I watch. Will someone remind me why I gave this show green rating? Is anyone from New York City? Do you have child endangerment laws? Let's see a drug addicted mother has a child in a hotel room with needles and drug and is so passed out that her child has to call her aunt then proceeds to lose the child in a drug haze and then checks out the child AMA. WHILE THE COPS ARE STANDING RIGHT THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Um hello reality. Come on, people have the cops arrested, PROTECT THE FREAKING CHILD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the kind of episode that was more prevalent in season 2 then season 1. To me, this was just a publicity stunt just like next week's episode with the supposed Hill Street Cast. Why couldn't they arrest Chloe and give Dr. Lewis protective custody, oh yea, that would have made sense and been realistic. Sorry, forgot about that fact. Bad episode in a good season, clearly their worst but somehow I think next week's episode will top this one.

[alice adding in her two cents] I have to completely agree with this! How many times have we seen in ER episodes where the hospital called in Family Services to take away a child when the parent was brought in half dead and had neglected or endangered the child???? And then suddenly here, it's okay for Chloe to walk off with Suzy???? I think it was really that the network wanted a crossover between Third Watch and ER for sweeps month but the ER people didn't want to have Susan taking care of a child again so they did this throwaway ending which just ruined it all, both the ER ep and the Third Watch ep. Damn shame to ruin two good shows at the end of the season.

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