Category Archives: Television

February 20, 2007 · 7:54 pm

The Superpower Bauer Hour Showdown: Week Five

 

The lateness of this week’s edition of the SPBHS is really quite simple: Snow Football. Alas, due to this diversion, I missed Monday’s episode of Heroes, and due to my departure from university for spring break I was unable to watch it until early Tuesday evening. Will this period between watching the shows impair my judgment? Will knowing the ratings results before watching Heroes change my perception? Stay tuned to find out.

Round One: Overall Quality

24 comes to the table this week with a satisfactory end to last week’s episode. We got an increase in the Milo and Morris tension within the office, some Jack/Marilyn flirtage, and a little bit of good ol’ fashioned Jack being held hostage. On the whole, the episode had a good deal of action, some interesting character drama (Re: Morris’ alcoholism), and an ending that was well worth our time. I worry somewhat about the show’s dependence on bringing back old characters, especially after the mess that Season Four became because of it. While I like Charles Logan as a character, his relationship to this plotline had better be darned good. Still, I’m a fan of the recluse beard, and on the whole the episode delivered a healthy dose of 24 action.

Heroes is balancing a whole lot of storylines right now: Mohinder and Sylar’s Road Trip, Claire’s Memory Challenged Mother, Nathan’s Parentage of Claire, Isaac v. Peter, Peter and his Obi-Wan, Parkman the Jewel Thief, Hiro and Ando’s Las Vegas roadblock, etc. In this episode, it did what was perhaps its best job yet at balancing these issues. We saw Peter use his powers, we saw Obi-Wan pass things onto our Luke, and we even got to see Simone play an actual role in the storyline for the first time (And then die, which perhaps explains the prior as well). Hiro and Ando’s storyline did its purpose of bringing back Hiro’s powers and further developing their relationship, even if it meant the breaking of the Live Long and Prosper Fellowship. There is still some corny dialogue (“What’s that sound…in your heart?” “MURDER”), but the episode moved at a good clip.

Perhaps most importantly, factions are starting to develop, roles are starting to become clear. Radioactive Man and Wireless Girl trying to recruit Parkman, Simone trying to get Nathan to out himself and the others…all of this is actually setting things up for the future we know must be coming. Claire’s storyline is actually gaining some traction, we’re finally returning to figuring out what makes Sylar tick…and Stan Lee the Bus Driver! It’s delightful, really.

Round Two: Ratings

From TheFutonCritic.com…

“Heroes” (households: 8.2/12, #5; adults 18-49: 6.0, #1)

“24” (households: 7.9/12, #6; adults 18-49: 5.0, #4)

Heroes takes an all out ratings win this week, with strong performances in the key demos and overall households. 24, however, continues to perform well.

Round Three: Saturn Awards

This week saw the release of the nominees for the Saturn Awards, which honour the best in Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action, Horror, Thrillers, Animation…basically, everything but Drama and Comedy. In the case of Television, they offer up some key acting and series awards in which Heroes and 24 compete against one another. Let’s see how they stack up:

24

Best Network Series

Best Actor – Kiefer Sutherland

 

Heroes

Best Network Series

Best Supporting Actor – Masi Oka

Best Supporting Actor – Greg Grunberg

Best Supporting Actress – Hayden Panettiere

Best Supporting Actress – Ali Larter

Lost led with 6 nominations, but the battle between Heroes and 24 was clearly won by the Super Heroes. Mind you, I would say that both Supporting Actress nominations are less than deserved, and Grunberg hasn’t done enough to deserve awards, but one has to respect their job as being the big buzzworthy program of the past year.

While things might seem a little bit perfunctory, I’m going to leave everyone in suspense anyways. To find out the week’s winner, Continue reading →

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February 19, 2007 · 1:54 pm

There’s Something About Cylons

It’s happened in pretty much every season of this show, but it’s becoming more pronounced. As time moves forward, and as the show goes on without the Cylons one can’t help but miss their presence. Six’s laugh, Sharon’s steely gaze, Leoben’s frosted hair, even the boxed Threes for goodness sake. There’s something about Cylons, simple as that.

The show without them, you see, is lacking in drama. The interpersonal drama is something that they are capable of doing, but seem to have lost track of. We spend far too long on the Starbuck/Anders and Lee/Dualla drama (It was really quite uninteresting), and everything to do with Chief and Cally does little to warm my heart. We get Adama dealing with his personal problems, we get everyone turning amongst themselves, and it becomes a problem. Continue reading →

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February 15, 2007 · 12:35 am

Lost – “Flashes Before Your Eyes”

One of my favourite prefixes is meta. I don’t know why this is the case, but I simply find it fun. There’s something about something within something else that just makes me pleased to be existing. Perhaps this is why I quite enjoyed tonight’s episode of Lost. Because, focusing on Desmond, it was really a flashback within a flashback. 

The episode had no subplots, it was entirely designed to setup why it is that Desmond receives flashes of the future. We went back to the moment when Desmond turned the key, and saw as Desmond flashed back to his time in England with Penny (Who we saw at the end of last season as the recipient of the research station’s phone call). Aware of his time on the island, Desmond began to come to grips with the role of fate within his past.

Desmond ran into Charlie busking on the streets, predicted the future a bit, and met someone else who was able to shed some light on his situation. He was forced to leave Penny , and then after realizing his ability to change situations woke up, naked in the trees. It is thus that he woke up, and found that he had this power. 

Now, this answered a few little things, but mostly it just set up a whole lot of Desmond’s future. Here’s some of the things we don’t know:

Does Desmond only see future things which affect Charlie? 

There’s no question that Charlie’s imminent death is the most important of Desmond’s flashes, but is that all he sees? And why are they just flashes, as opposed to true recollections like in his flashback within a flashback? Remember back to when Desmond woke up, and he talked to Hurley about Locke’s speech which had yet to be given. If he remembered that, has he already lived this future before? Or is it just strange foresight? Continue reading →

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February 14, 2007 · 12:19 pm

Shipper’s Log: Valentine’s Day Trauma Centre

On this the day of greeting cards and flowers, one has to think of the ones they love…and I, not really finding one in my thoughts, instead settled on the TV couples to which I am incredibly emotionally attached. I guess this is just how my life works, I might as well get used to it.

However, I was most concerned to find that some of my favourite Shipping subjects were in grave medical condition on this beloved holiday. So, it’s time for the good doctor to head out on a special Valentine’s Day edition of the Shipper’s Log to prescribe the proper remedies for these relationships that are suffering during this season of cold and flu. As a result, I made sure that the Shipmobile picked up the three most critical couples and brought them to Shipper’s Log General Hospital.

More specifically, they brought them to the Trauma Centre. This is their story.

 

Case One

 

 

Everything was going so well for Henry and Betty. Walter, Betty’s annoying and childish boyfriend agrees to move away and never grace our screens again. Henry tries to go on a date with Betty to go see Wicked, which Betty fumbles but prepares to recover at the episode’s end. The whole Christmas scenario was dealt with recently, everything was lining up, and we know Christopher Gorham is likely coming back next season.

But, then the Ex shows up. Honestly, an ex-girlfriend? Please. This is a dire situation, although I think a little bit of surgery will clear things up. We need to immediately do an X-Ray to find out who’s playing this girlfriend, and then figure out what level of a threat they represent. We can only hope that it is a benign tumour, able to be excised with little effort on our parts here at the Trauma Centre.

There isn’t any other barriers now that Walter is gone, so we need to make sure Betty stays on track. The show has plenty of characters to ignore this drama for awhile, but Betty is now without a storyline, so she needs to remain committed to making this relationship work, and Henry needs to get his act together. This girlfriend better be worth it, Henry, your Trauma Centre bill will be substantial. Should have bought insurance, tsk tsk. Continue reading →

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February 13, 2007 · 10:28 pm

American Idol Goes Hollywood

Hollywood Week is perhaps the greatest thing ever. We start with people who think they’re good, and then we take those cocky individuals and throw them into groups where their personalities clash right into the middle of the night.

It’s where people forget their lyrics millions of times, to songs that they really should be able to learn much quicker than this (Harmonies aside). It’s where people who were cute stories back in the other auditions turn into the mediocre singers they are.

It’s also where a ringer, someone like Bailey Brown, gets dramatically cut after remembering about 5 words out of her lyrics. And then one of her groupmates explains that Bailey was cut because “God likes good people.”

It’s also where My Grammy Moment winner Robin Troup shows up in the Group singing competition only to end up being cut…and then months later ending up on stage with Justin Timberlake.

Really, Hollywood Week is perhaps the most satisfying part of the American Idol season. There are no hideously horrible singers, plenty of mistakes to make fun of, and some truly good singers who make it in the bigtime. It’s where we see them singing tough harmonies, weird song choices, and a WHOLE lot of crying.

What was really interesting to me was the difference in the endings of people’s journeys. For some that we might have expected to break down, like the girl who lied to her father, she was oddly calm about going in the first round, happy to have made her father proud. Others, on the contrary, were complete and total messes, fighting to the end.

Everything seemed topsy-turvy. They show us someone who did really well, who was really well-liked…and then they’re crushed. The show ended with people’s tears, all upset with the decision of the judges to cut them from the Top 40. It ended on a brother/sister pairing being split up, as well as a pair of snotty best friends (Including “God likes good people” girl. Touché, big guy.)

I don’t even know how to feel right now. Should I feel sad about the people who lost? Happy for those who won? What do I do with these close relationships? Should I be remembering those we chronicled and then lost on the way through? Or looking forward to some of these people that we never even got to meet? Honestly, out of the Top 40, I recognize almost none of them. All we got to see were those who lost tragically.

It’s really just another example of the schizophrenia within this season. Everything seems so strangely off-key, if you’ll pardon the pun, compared to past seasons. I feel like the rug is constantly being pulled out from under us as we watch, never really able to root for someone without worrying that they’re about to go out in a blaze of misplaced glory. It’s, honestly, quite unsettling.

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February 13, 2007 · 9:22 pm

The Superpower Bauer Hour Showdown: Week Four

This is going to be a quick one, based on not only time but also a level of disinterest in last night’s episodes…well, one of them anyways. 

Round One: Overall Quality

24 offers two hours, so perhaps it isn’t a fair comparison, but it certainly stepped up to the plate in terms of plot advancement. There was an expansion of the presidential removal conspiracy, the reveal of Gredenko, expansion on Philip Bauer, and some good action scenes (Jack + Shotgun FTW). Things with Morris were perhaps cleaned up a bit too quickly, but that’s just how the show is. 

Heroes, on the other hand, was just awful. Mohinder/Sylar is a fine comedic pairing, but there was just so much nothingness on the other side of things. Making Parkman a security guard was a nice excuse to get him into the storyline, but it did nothing for his character. I should be happy about a Peter-free episode, but I’m not; his storyline was for more interesting than the rest of this crap.

Round Two: Ratings

From TheFutoncritic.com… 

“Heroes” (households: 8.8/13, #4; adults 18-49: 6.3, #2)

FOX (households: 7.9/12, #2; adults 18-49: 5.0, #1) snagged a rare first place win among adults 18-49 on Monday thanks to new episodes of “24” (households: 7.7/12, #7; adults 18-49: 4.9, #T5) and another “24” (households: 8.1/12, #6; adults 18-49: 5.1, #3). 

Long story short, Heroes won the head-to-head battle, but the two hours of 24 were able to build FOX to a 18-49 win, which is a huge deal. Still, I’ll give this one to Heroes. Just for fun. Not like it will matter.

Round Three: Worthless Storyline Watch 

24’s most worthless storyline right now is Sandra Palmer…who was absent through both hours. Woot!

Heroes has multiple worthless storylines. Mohinder has no momentum, Hiro has indeed lost his purpose (As well as my patience), and Niki the contract killer? Snore. The show has nothing going for it right now, other than Peter…who they left out of this one. Unless he’s really perfected that invisibility trick.

And the…aw, come on, it’s pretty obvious, but anyways…the winner is… Continue reading →

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February 12, 2007 · 12:19 pm

The Pros and Cons of Survivor: Fiji

Now, before I begin, let me note that I watched this from about 3:30am to 4:10am in a hotel room in Antigonish on Friday Night, so perhaps my mind wasn’t as sharp as it could have been. Also, this will be replacing Thursday Night TV Club this week, purely based on my current schedule crunch. That being said, let’s get to it.

Pro: Contestant/Audience Confusion

Seasons of Survivor that start with watching 19 confused individuals try to figure out what the hell to do are often the best. The season started with all 19 on one island, building a shelter together and being forced to work together with no idea what was coming next. It reminded me somewhat of the Pearl Islands shopping excursion in that it was a neat shift of pace in the opening episode that kept me interested far more than last season’s racial divide.

Con: Mark Burnett is ripping himself off

The latest season of The Apprentice started in exactly the same way. Everyone works together to build a tent, two leaders are selected to head the teams, and then they schoolyard pick from those teams. If one of the contestants had not backed out of the game so soon before its opening, it would have turned out in exactly the same fashion. It just made Survivor seem somewhat repetitive, although it is the better reality show overall. Continue reading →

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February 8, 2007 · 11:19 am

An Open Letter to The CW

Dear The CW,

So, how’re things? We’re now into the sixth month of your existence, and I’d like to be frank with you. I greatly appreciate your efforts to offer youth-oriented programming, and you’ve managed to develop America’s Next Top Model into a buzz-worthy program on the same level as other reality shows. And yet, as we enter your sixth month, I have a message for you: you need a complete makeover, in every possible way.

Now, I know that this might seem drastic, but let’s consider this year as a bit of a practice run. You just weren’t the huge success that they wanted you to be, all you could do was increase demo numbers in women from 18-34. This is good, and all, but there has been no breakthrough, no tremendous change; there is not yet a CW identity.

I know it’s difficult, when you’re taking on mostly shows from other networks, you’re not going to be able to suddenly brand everything together. UPN was a network that focused primarily on an African-American and female audience, while The WB appealed to families and young adults. These are two identities that can’t just be integrated overnight, it takes time.

This wasn’t helped by a few decisions that most definitely did not prove beneficial. The decision to keep 7th Heaven was a detriment to both of these images. It was clear that the family focus of the WB was headed out the window, the show only served to confuse your message further. Couple this with the decision, financially motivated, to renew Reba, and you’ve got a Sunday Night lineup that lacks any relation to the rest of your audience.

But, this isn’t your only problem. Even with this Sunday lineup, there was a chance to define something new that could be built on in the future. And yet, for two reasons, this failed. Continue reading →

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February 7, 2007 · 9:04 pm

Lost – “Not in Portland”

Considering that this will be posted two hours before the ABC airing of the episode, this will contain spoilers. So, if you want to know what happens later, keep reading. If you haven’t watched it yet, I suggest you don’t.

FINAL SPOILER WARNING Continue reading →

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February 7, 2007 · 10:27 am

Dangers of the Lost (Mini-)Arc: Season Three Continues

There are a large number of things to say about Lost these days. TV critics have been up in arms, viewers are apparently turning away in droves, and the hype machine which once led Lost into the Stratusphere is allegedly disappearing at an alarming rate. Ratings are dropping, and an attempt at a no-rerun 6 episode start to Season Three simply provided more fuel to the fire. Well, most of the things I have to say on this issue were covered today by the Elder in a piece I pretty much agree with 100%.

It is my belief that Lost has been unfairly placed in front of a giant rolling ball of doom. I don’t think that anything about the show should have people up in arms, and people are being more unreasonable than they realize. The Elder focuses on pretty well all of the major points, but there’s something that he doesn’t quite hit on that I think is incredibly important.

I don’t know how anyone could possibly HATE Lost after having liked its first season. You could grow bored, which is reasonable if not my personal experience. You could find you no longer have time to keep up with its plotlines, and that’s ok too. Maybe the show’s new late US timeslot of 10pm EST is too late for your early morning schedule, and I completely understand. You could get frustrated with the show’s quality in your eyes, which I think everyone does.

But this backlash of hatred flying all over the place is ridiculous. It has gone past frustration, and become a downright concoction of anger and haterade. I’m starting to see it happen with 24 as well, as people start to spurn it for being “too slow” and instead switch to watching Heroes which is almost exactly the same pacing style at times. It scares me to see how many people can downright turn against a show: as the Elder points out, a show like Studio 60 went from popular to hated in about 3.6 seconds, even though the show really hasn’t changed from its pilot (And stagnancy is not worthy of hatred).

I don’t want myself to be one of those people, and I hope I never do it. I watch a lot of TV, but I don’t want to become someone who downright hates a show due to a stupid decision. I like to think that I’m patient, understanding. I weathered a few storms on Alias, watching to the very end. I’ve gone through some turbulent times on a show like 24 as well, but I keep watching to enjoy the fine work on display. And, in the end, I love Lost. It is well-acted, well-written, and one of the best mystery stories on television. I want to know more about its characters just as much as I want to know more about its plot, and this is a sign of a TV show that is capable of taking over my life.

At 8pm AST, thanks to some fancy CTV scheduling that for idiotic reasons places Nelly Furtado’s Primetime acting debut on CSI:NY at 9pm instead, I’ll be sitting down to enjoy an episode of Lost that may not make my heart race, that may not answer any of my questions, but one that I will enjoy because it will be well-acted, well-written, well-directed and a whole lot of things a good drama can be.

Visit McNutt Against the Music for the Elder’s more indepth view on why people shouldn’t be quite so fickle, and then enjoy Lost this evening. And, if you don’t, subject to reasoning, you could be on notice.

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