Category Archives: Television

February 6, 2007 · 10:22 pm

Shipper’s Log: Gilmore Girls

Shipper’s Log – Stardate 020607

This is the beginning of a long-gestating series where, basically, I talk about relationships in TV series. How civilized. Really, though, they’re integral to understanding the appeal, success, and sometimes failures of TV shows.

Anyways, watching Gilmore Girls this evening was quite honestly difficult. I don’t know what it is about Luke and Lorelai, this pair of star-crossed lovers. One runs an Inn, the other a Diner. One talks faster than the speed of sound, and the other one stutters over a majority of their words. They’ve been married to other people, engaged to one another, and yet somehow their relationship has always stayed the same.

It’s one of the considerations of any show coming to its conclusion, these relationships that are established in a show’s pilot and continue to gestate (Used it twice in one post, fancy that). In the case of Luke and Lorelai, the departure of showrunner Amy-Sherman Palladino was a huge blow to the cause. In her final episode, knowing that she wouldn’t be back the following season, she had Lorelai sleep with former flame Christopher and break off their engagement. Palladino introduced Luke’s long-lost daughter, which drove them apart, and nothing made sense in terms of their relationship.

It’s really a good argument as to why shows like Gilmore Girls shouldn’t even bother to have these relationships, because they become a burden as the series moves on into later seasons. In the same way that a show like Lost has a long-gestating mystery (Which I’ll be getting to tomorrow morning) that fans want to have dealt with as soon as possible, viewers of a show like Gilmore Girls want to see Luke and Lorelai together sooner rather than later. Continue reading →

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February 6, 2007 · 2:14 pm

The Superpower Bauer Hour Showdown: Week Three

 

While Heroes starts to head into the second half of its season, 24 prepares to enter into its 2nd quarter with a fair deal of momentum. Two straight victories in the Superpower Bauer Hour Showdown, and a win in total viewers last week, have placed 24 in the pole position heading into February Sweeps, where TV shows do their best to throw everything in their arsenal at viewers. How did 24 and Heroes hold up in Overall Quality, Ratings, and the Sweeps Litmus Test? Let’s take a look and find out.

Round One: Overall Quality

Heroes finally put together an hour of television that appeared to go somewhere. We got copious amounts of Sylar, first and foremost, although I felt that his anger was a little bit too generic. There didn’t seem to be a mythos to his killing, although “That was for the haircut” was perhaps my favourite line of the episode. However, even though he may bore me, there was some good development for Peter this week. His ability to regenerate when not around Claire was really quite important for the overall story, and Eccleston as Obi-Wan is currently working quite well from a storytelling perspective.

The episode still had its downfalls though. I love Hiro, and loved Ando’s crush on the sister, but the entire plot had no connection to anything, and seemed like just an excuse to cast George Takei (Don’t get me wrong, I love George Takei). For someone so wrapped up in his destiny, to have him stop it all for an entire episode was counter-productive. The entire Niki storyline remains utterly mind-numbing, and this week’s sudden Linderman assisted withdraw of all charges was too contrived for my tastes. Similarly, the entire Simone situation is too uninteresting, I need her to be revealed as an agent of Linderman or SOMETHING here.

On the whole, Heroes’ best transition episode yet, despite some of its parts not quite living up to the quality of our tiny baby step plot movements.

24, on the other hand, did somewhat less in moving the overall plot forward. In a show that, let’s face it, is action-oriented and often tied down by its structure, this was one of those episodes that felt somewhat small scale, like a whole lot of setup. The episode benefited from some more Jack Bauer torture scenes, as well as some family drama, but on the whole it was just a setup for our next major plotline, the “Save Morris” one. I knew it had to be someone at CTU, it just made sense, but I didn’t put together the whole brother in the hospital thing until WAY too late. I think I’m getting a little slow.

Other than that, the episode kept things fairly stagnant. The President stood up to Lennix about the whole martial law type thing, and there wasn’t much else for the episode to go on really. It was very much a holding pattern for 24, and the only big character revelation came at its conclusion. You can’t expect too much to happen in every hour of the day, after all.

Ratings

From PIFeedback.com:

Bona fide NBC hit Heroes was second in the 9 p.m. hour in total viewers (14.56 million) and first among adults 18-49 (6.4/15) — up 28 percent in the demo from lead-in Deal or No Deal. Fox’s potent 24 remained competitive, meanwhile, at 13.58 million viewers and a 5.0/11 among adults 18-49, building from lead-in Prison Break by 3.44 million viewers and 22 percent in the demo.

What does this mean? It means that Heroes has taken the ratings crown in both total viewers and Adults 18-49. Perhaps it was that the CBS comedies sunk into 24’s audience, but it was certainly a bit of a tough week for 24 in comparison to the last few. Still a strong performance, but Heroes takes the ratings outright for the first time.

The Sweeps Litmus Test

Specimen: Heroes

Contents: Big-time Daddy Reveal, Character Thrown Off Roof

Test Results: Pretty decent Sweeps performance from Heroes. Peter is annoying, so the fact that he healed himself was unfortunate, but throwing him off a roof was still dramatic. And, whether predictable or not, Nathan as Claire’s father was a fine way to end the episode.

Specimen: 24

Contents: Revelation of Evil, Kidnapping

Test Results: A strong reveal to end the episode, but it was a bit bizarrely handled on the whole. The “murder” of Graem seemed a bit too extreme, but the reveal of Daddy Bauer as evil made sense. Sense is good, 24, but your kidnapping was a bit undramatic and I don’t think we care enough about Morris at this point for things to work perfectly.

And the winner is… Continue reading →

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February 5, 2007 · 3:34 pm

The Ethics of Robot Suicide

In Canada, our Super Bowl commercials were quite unfortunately lame. Far too many for Rogers, on top of their sponsorship of Deal or No Deal Canada, and a lack of any of the Conservative attack ads we were promised. However, there was one that crossed the border, one that made me quite pleased in its…oddities.

GM Super Bowl Commercial: Robot Suicide

THE ROBOT JUMPED OFF A BRIDGE! It was the only Canadian commercial that made me stop everything I was doing and watch. The entire commercial is entertaining, but what about the subliminal messages implied? What if it wasn’t a machine, but a layed off GM worker instead? There are some implications here that make me quite entertained, but the commercial is really just a well-made piece of Super Bowl advertising. No celebrities, no gimmicks, but rather just a well-told story that defines it as a car commercial without seeming like one. It was, therefore, an incredibly successful commercial…plus the robot jumped off a frackin’ bridge, COME ON!

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February 4, 2007 · 11:12 pm

Live Commentary: Deal or No Deal Canada

I don’t feel like doing much reading, so I’m going to continue live-blogging the non-sports parts of this evening.

11:00pm: We’re starting on time? This is surprising!

11:01pm: Maple leaf set? Check. Models wearing red? Check. Howie Mandel? Check. Really lame Canada jokes? More than I could possibly imagine.

11:03pm: Our first contestant is Brian Trainer, who needs a looser fitting shirt. That tattoo is distracting. He’s from Medicine Hat, and apparently a DND Firefighter. He’s engaged, and he brought a racy firefighter calendar. Or I assume it’s racy, he apparently brought it to pick numbers out of. There’s only 12 months, Howie’s banter is actually quite good.

11:05pm: Okay, the Loonie/Toonie touches are actually kind of charming. Also, the calendar is not racy at all. I’m shocked.

11:06pm: Brian takes Case #5, his number in the calendar. He then opens case #12, and it has $5k. Case 24 has a Toonie. The cases, for some reason, seem ugly. Canadian production values FTL.

11:07pm: Case 19 is being held by someone from Stellarton, who Howie makes fun of for being a pageant girl. They don’t have pageants in Stellarton. She breaks his heart, though, ends up with $200k. Ouch.

11:08pm: Case 10 is from Rivere-du-Loup. And she has $50. I stayed in a hotel there once, it was half decent. There was a pool.

11:09pm: Her name is Shanu, Case 29 or something, but I heard Shamu. Case #15 is…$500,000. Ouch, this is rough. On the whole, a pretty crappy first run that won’t do much for him.

11:10pm: Okay, having a Canadian banker seems fairly ridiculous…for some reason, we see a bit more of this banker, and…oh god, Rogers is sponsoring the phone line. They’re IN THE SAME ROOM. Such a waste of funds, just yell out the offer. The first offer is coming in, and it’s a pretty good one: $30,000. It seems high, maybe the banker’s pacing as opposed to sitting is raising his blood pressure and thus the offers.

11:11pm: Deal or No Deal? Come on, people. What do you think he says? No Deal it is. And now it’s Rick Campanelli with the annoying mobile phone games that NBC has been doing recently. Honestly, do people actually enter these things? They’re ripping off a generation of young teens who don’t understand the value of phone service. Continue reading →

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February 4, 2007 · 12:26 pm

An Update on Post-Super Bowl and Counter Programming

Super Bowl XLI kicks off this evening, and with it comes a whole slew of spin-off benefits for advertisers, fans of CBS’ Criminal Minds, and even viewers to some extent. A game not about a game, but rather an event, is not something limited to the Super Bowl but there is nothing quite like it in any other sport. Nothing can match its sheer spectacle, its sheer madness and its sheer pop cultural power.

The game itself, a matchup between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts, has its Cinderella stories. Peyton Manning is getting his first real shot at the coveted title, and after sending Tom Brady packing two weeks ago he’s riding the wave of individual popularity usually reserved for the much-oggled Patriots quarterback. The Bears’ defence is standing waiting for him, but…yeah, I must admit, I kind of bore myself when I get into too many details.

You see, I’m what one would call a recreational football fan. I know the rules, I know the strategies, I know the big stars, but don’t ask me to sit down and start obsessing over a certain player. I enjoy watching a good football game (See: Patriots/Colts last week), but I can’t get too excited about things beforehand. It just isn’t going to happen.

However, some people aren’t excited about the Super Bowl at all. This is entirely understandable, and there are some alternatives. They’re not great, though, I’ll warn you.

The Rich and the Poor: Programming After and During the Super Bowl

Post-Super Bowl

Criminal Minds (CBS) and Deal or No Deal: Canada (Global)

I previewed the episode of Criminal Minds a while back, and I must admit that my excitement has dropped even further as the commercials I’ve been seeing have been of “just another episode” of CBS’ serial killer crime drama. There’s nothing that makes it seem all that interesting, and they’re not even advertising James Van Der Beek. Probably smart.

However, I’ve been avoiding recognizing the existence of Deal or No Deal: Canada. Basically, it’s the same show but with Canadian people winning Canadian money (No tax, bitches!) and Canadian “ladies” opening the cases. It’s a bit too gimmicky for my tastes, and the fact that it’s the same host and everything is somewhat frustrating. I know that Howie Mandel is already Canadian, but this is even worse than what was done with Millionaire. These shows have how many incarnations around the world, with different styles and hosts, but our proximity to the US appears to dictate that little of our own culture can really seep into the production. This is especially the case when it’s just the same cake with slightly different icing.

Damn, now I want cake.

Counter Programming to the Super Bowl

The Puppy Bowl (Animal Planet), Grease: You’re the One That I Want Marathon (NBC), X2: X-Men United (FOX), Old School (ABC)

You can watch four hours of people trying to become broadway star, mutants fighting against injustice and anti-mutant sentiment in the public, Will Ferrell streaking after having joined a fraternity at a ridiculously old age, or eight hours of puppies playing with sports equipment and tackling each other adorably.

I vote puppies. And now I want cake and a puppy. This is bad.

So, whatever you decide to watch, I hope you enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday. Hopefully the game manages to live up to all of the hype surrounding it. I might do a feature on the commercials if there’s enough good ones, time will tell. But, to preview my most anticipated event (The first Puppy Bowl held smack dab in the middle of the YouTube revolution), here’s clips from Puppy Bowl III.

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February 2, 2007 · 6:46 pm

How Do You Solve a Problem Like “EdHelms”a?

Earlier this season on The Office, after Jim had transferred to the Stanford offices of Dunder-Mifflin, he began working with an individual named Andy, played by former “Daily Show” correspondent Ed Helms. He was brash, somewhat ridiculous, and referred to Jim as “Big Tuna” at all times. Jim’s first attempt at pranking him, putting his stapler into Jello, was met with a violent trash can kicking. Since we all knew that Jim would eventually be headed back to Scranton, we all thought that perhaps Andy was short-lived as well.

We were wrong, and rightly so; the character began to gain traction, becoming less of a novelty and more of a foil, and quite a powerful one. Transferred to Scranton at the midpoint of the season, he proved a valuable comedic asset for the show. He feuded with Dwight over Michael’s affections, he made sexual passes at all of the women in the office, and he did everything in his power to suck up to whoever he had to suck up to. This particular story arc to Andy hit a fantastic peak as Jim decides that Andy should go after Pam, feeding him everything she hates as her most passionate likes, and then watching as the madness ensues.

The result of all of this was one of my favourite moments in the Office this season. Maybe it was just that the episode was written by Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, executive producers of the UK version of the Office, but his character just clicked in this episode. This could not have been more evident than when, at the episode’s conclusion, Andy got out his banjo and did a falsetto, pig latin version of “The Rainbow Connection.” The character was sweet, charming, and not some sort of dangerous madman at this point.

The problem was that Dwight was also there, and Ed Helms as a guest star was playing second fiddle. They couldn’t have two Dwights, so they had to do something to make Andy a different type of nuisance. This, done slowly over a few episodes, was incredibly damaging to his character. He went from decent worker to someone who is absolutely terrible at selling things. He became a thorn in Michael’s side to a degree Dwight never reaches. He viciously badmouthed Dwight, trying to get him fired in a way that didn’t seem petty, but rather vindictive. Then, returning to his original introduction to the show, a workplace prank resulted in Andy punching a hole through the wall.

Now, this week was Andy free, which may have confused some. However, the Producer’s Cut of last week’s episode showed Andy being ordered into Anger Management courses. However, the Office environment just seemed more natural without him. If I hadn’t been reading the internet earlier that day, I would have wondered where exactly Andy was, and maybe thought he was gone for good.

Instead, it appears that he is here to stay. It was announced yesterday that for the remainder of the season, Ed Helms will be a regular on The Office. I like this news, on the surface. I like Ed Helms, and I enjoy seeing Daily Show correspondents move onto big things. But, I worry, because they’ve written themselves into a corner with Andy. And therefore, they have to ask themselves: How do they solve a problem like “Ed Helms”a? Continue reading →

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February 2, 2007 · 2:40 pm

Thursday Night TV Club – February 1st, 2007

Well, here we are on the first official day of February Sweeps. What better way to usher in the month than with a night chock full of juicy sweeps episodes of your favourite TV shows?

This is definitely a busy night, especially considering that we’ve got some cliffhangers to resolve, a series winding down to its finale, a series coping with a switched-gender addition to its cast, and some Office realities to deal with. Let’s get to some honourable mentions first:

30 Rock

Oh, Tina Fey and Co., why did you have to hurt me so? Don’t get me wrong, there were some flashes of brilliance in this episode. I enjoyed Kenneth as the angel, Tracy as the devil, and I think that some of the Jack/Liz banter was good for the show’s development (And Isabella Rosselini was really quite funny in what I would hope to see become a recurring role should the show get the chance).

But, I have to wonder who thought that Paul Reubens’ inbred Habsburg Prince (Pictured) was a good introduction to the show. The character was never funny enough to justify its silliness, and pairing him with Jenna only made me dislike her more. I like Will Forte, and I think he was the best part of the whole situation, but it was just dreadful to watch. It made for a fairly weak episode of a show that is usually a standout amongst Comedy Night Done Right. Still, it gets major props for mentioning the Defenestration of Prague which Dr. Duke would be proud of.

The Office

I want to talk about the office more indepth later today, but as for this episode it was merely mediocre. The show isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, and Dwight quizzing Ben Franklin (Pictured) made me incredibly happy. The advancement of Jim/Pam/Karen was somewhat stagnant, but at least it was there.

The rest of it was just blah. The Stripper thing seemed to stress Michael’s idiocy to a degree that somewhat bothers me, especially after we saw him play the straight man to Andy (Who I’ll get to later today) in the past few episodes. On top of this, the rest of the episode just kind of lingered there, never really finding a proper grounding, and the advice/insight brought by the stripper was limited at best.

Still, there were some moments of laughter, but not enough to keep me enthralled with the episode on the whole. Plus, we all know that Jim is going to dump Karen, and then Pam will have moved back to Roy. It’s being choreographed so much I almost think it’s a ruse.

Grey’s Anatomy

Two marriage proposals result in, apparently, two marriages. A patient becomes incredibly toxic. Bailey opens her free clinic remarkably quickly. Izzy acts like a complete bitch. And Ellis Grey wakes up from her Alzheimer’s coma and is also a complete bitch, but one who is entirely correct if a bit selfish.

The result of all of this is an episode that goes a mile a minute. I didn’t even get into the whole crazily horny Addison thing, where she’s sleeping with Sloane purely out of lust, or the entire fact that Ellen Pompeo actually acted (I know, it was shocking). And, in the end, I think that so many things going on was perhaps the episode’s downfall, never quite settling on one thing or the other.

George and Callie’s marriage is doomed, simple as that, whether Sara Ramirez was added as a regular earlier this season or not. Izzy might be a bitch, but she’s technically right, it’s a horribly ill-advised scenario. I mean, he was a sex-crazed maniac one second, and then husband the next? She has some issues she needs to work out.

This being said, I have the exact opposite feeling about Cristina and Burke’s impending nuptials. They reacted the way they would, being surgeons, neither showing their emotion in their contemplation. Their final moment of Cristina refusing to wear the ring, but then accepting the proposal was perfect, and then it culminated in a celebration filled with elation, happiness (Pictured). It was a fantastic piece of television, and certainly made the episode worthwhile, but I just felt like it was too cramped, too rushed to enter into my Top Three.

So, without further adue, let’s get to the top Three for the Evening:

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February 1, 2007 · 3:09 pm

Deconstructing American Idol: Manipulation at its Finest

Last week, I wrote about the new season of American Idol, and its penchant towards displaying the lowest of the low, and even dedicating a fair amount of time to their portrayal. While I talked about the whole question of these bad singers and the like last week, this week I want to look at each episode as the manipulation of our senses, a pattern developing to best serve a particular audience. The directors, producers and editors on American Idol, in a way, are like journalists crafting a story. So, let’s analyze last night’s episode to test out this theory.

Act One: Bringing the Funny

Let’s face it, these early episodes of American Idol are designed to make people laugh and make fun of people who can’t sing in the least, or are entirely oddball in their ways. It’s important for them to do so because they want to hook people in their story. People with short attention spans are immediately drawn into the humour of it all, and you can’t really blame them. The segments are lasting a bit long this season, but let’s face it: it’s still funny to watch people get horribly rejected.

But, in terms of power, the judges are in control, and this first person always shows this. The judges are immediately able to say a resounding no to a contestant, which immediately establishes them as the quality control of the operation.

Act Two: The Montage of Mediocrity

Not looking to lose those viewers who entered for the funny, they parade some of the worst singers doing one of a multitude of things. They could all be butchering the same song, all pleading for an opportunity to do better, or all having major problems with their pitch.

 

This places the audience in a position to just sit back and enjoy themselves, and it’s non-stop entertainment. Not only will this keep them from changing the channel, but it also continues to condition them into thinking that these singers aren’t good in the least. It most definitely manipulates us, as it often shows us only the negative parts of their audition, and you wonder if perhaps the rest of the song was better.

Act Three: Hope for Humanity (But not too much hope)

Here, the show provides two things: singers who have potential to be good but fail to live up to it, and individuals who can actually, you know, sing. These include people from previous seasons who are back to audition, people who have training but just try too hard, or people who can belt out a good tune.

 

This helps to keep people around, and shows a vulnerability in the power of the judges. If we had a show of all failures, they would appear too difficult, too rigid. Similarly, an episode of all people like this would remove their power entirely. This section is also there to keep people tiring of the bad singers (Read: Me) watching. Continue reading →

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January 31, 2007 · 10:20 pm

Time for a ‘House’ Call

I said in my TV sidebar on Tuesday that I was starting to lose interest in House, and I must say that it was with some reservations that I sat down to watch this week’s episode, the first since early January. The first episode of the season to benefit from the American Idol lead-in, it garnered huge ratings. And, I have to wonder what people really thought about the episode, because it was different from its usual formula. And, for this reason, I viewed it as an example of how good House can be, how strong this character is, and how he continues to flounder somewhat within the unfortunate circumstance that is the nature of procedural TV shows.

I love Hugh Laurie’s portrayal of Gregory House. I believe that he is deserving of the awards he has received, and of the praise that has been placed upon him. And, episode that allow House to deal with his own issues, or ones that allow for him to remain in his element of humour and attacking patients verbally, are something to look forward to. They can be a bit heavy-handed, and last night’s episode certainly headed in that direction, but it worked out in the end.

I didn’t miss the weekly mystery; in fact, I was almost disappointed where it appeared that it might be popping up early in the episode. Written by show creator David Shore, it made me wish that he could write more often. He was also responsible for Three Stories, the episode where we learned the details of House’s injury, and I think that this type of episode is what House does best. The problem is that, in other episodes, there isn’t enough there to sustain it.

In those episode, House is buoying a plot that eventually gets solved in its usual contrived fashion. The plots are good, don’t get me wrong, but they never really go anywhere. Episodes that simply show House being his usual self are fine, but it’s so tough to watch after the beginning of this season.

We opened the season with House jogging. He was getting better, he was feeling better, and the show stopped dead becausse of it. House wasn’t a liability anymore, and the show’s dynamic was thrown out of balance. And, like most dramatic shows, things all went back to normal. House got worse, got hooked on drugs, and then the cycle continued. They even then recycled a plotline from before, having House challenged by someone not charmed by his actions and who thought him dangerous. The entire storyline with Tritter slowed things to a crawl, and House appeared unchanged through almost the entire arc. He was flawed, almost too flawed, and came out looking sterling.

How often can they do this? How often will they be able to reset this show? Future storylines are apparently heading back to the aborted Cameron/House romance, which isn’t exactly filling me with excitement, because I’m really looking for something new. I want to see House head to a new direction, but this week’s episode didn’t really give me much hope for the future. I seriously doubt we’ll suddenly see a changed House, and chances are we’ll head back to another mystery of the week and a flawed House who can’t empathize with his patients. And, if this is the case, I shall have to be entertained by House himself, and wait until we get another episode that dares to go deeper into his character.

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January 30, 2007 · 1:48 pm

The Superpower Bauer Hour Showdown: Week Two

Another week, another showdown to the death between Heroes and 24. Today’s Rounds are Overall Quality, Ratings and our rotating Third Round goes to “The Weakest Link” which will be explains as it pops up.

Round One: Overall Quality

Well, Heroes picked up a bit compared to last week’s episode, but we’re still knee deep in a transitional period. It threw us some more Christopher Ecclesten (“Doctor Who”), and a rather fun little appearance by George “Sulu” Takei at the end of the episode.

All of this being said, I am getting concerned about the core mythos of the show at this point. Sylar has been out of action for too long, Mohinder might as well die already, Claire’s search for her parents is cute but still lacking the spark (Even with the introduction of Jessalyn Gilsig), Peter is still a little too whiny, Niki/DL lacks connection, and while I love Hiro dearly, he hasn’t had much important to do since “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” and the dinosaur. He’s been consistently the best part of every episode, this one included, but he needs to recover his purpose. The pieces are in place for this mythos to work, but it just isn’t quite there yet. Even a transition episode needs to do something more to connect to and extend the mythos, and this episode didn’t do it.

 

 

24 is also entering its first transitional phase, and about now is when people start whining about the show’s quality, spoiled by the amount of action in the last five episodes. We have an episode where Jack didn’t really get to torture anyone, where there were no bombs or explosions, and there was very little of the action that has made the character of Jack Bauer so popular with the kids.

And yet, I count myself among those who think that these episodes are often what 24 does best. We received further intel into the state of affairs with McCarthy, we gained new insight into Nadia’s character (Milo’s got to be banging her), we dealt quickly with the White House related tension (Any bets on how many show hours it takes Karen to get to CTU?), and the episode did a good job of easing into its final act featuring James Crowell as Phllip Bauer. In the end, the episode remained compelling drama that introduced and advanced storylines in a way that still contributed to the overall plot without action sequences or interrogations.

 

Round Two: Ratings

Things are fairly similar to last week here, but with some slight differences.

From PIFeedback.com:

At 9 p.m., leadership was mixed between NBC’s Heroes and Fox’s 24. Heroes won the hour among adults 18-49 (6.1/14) with a second-place finish in total viewers (13.57 million); while 24 was the most-watched (14.05 million) and a competitive second among adults 18-49 (5.4/12).

While Heroes might still have the advantage out of young viewers, the bad news here is that 24 took over the lead in total viewers and managed to stay steady amongst those younger viewers while Heroes well. It’s pretty much a tie, because of this, but 24 is definitely in the best position, especially heading into its 2-hour event in two weeks.

Round Three: The Weakest Links

Yes, every good show has its weak links, and Heroes and 24 are currently suffering from a storyline a piece that is compelling me to fast forward through them. This category will be able to judge which link was weaker, and how each episode handled that problem.

In the case of Heroes, the character of Matt Parkman has a lot of potential. I love Greg Grunberg (Alias, Felicity, pretty much everything JJ Abrams has ever done), and I think that his power has great possibilities. But, dear god, the man needs something to do. He has entirely lost his purpose after being suspended, and with it everything that made him entertaining. His banter with his partner was charming, his searches for the truth allowed him to connect with the main storyline. But, after last week’s failure at Primatech Paper, the character has become utterly worthless. Heck, I half expected him to decide to take up plumbing full time.

His wife is pregnant, she knows he can read her mind, and their marriage remains more or less irrevocably damaged. There is no path for this character to follow right now. I think Mohinder is the least interesting character of the bunch, and was certainly the show’s weakest link while soul searching in India, but he at least has returned to New York with a purpose. Every time we turn to Parkman, I honestly stop caring. It pulls me out of the show’s core storyline, and that is when you have to consider killing some people off and consolidating the existing characters into a tighter arc that would make for less of these problems.

And, let’s face it, 24 has long had the same problem, balancing multiple storylines with tenuous connections to the overall plot. It is those that lack that connection, in a real manner, that hurt the show’s ability to have these transition episodes. And, for 24 this season, this weakest link has been Sandra Palmer and her boyfriend Walid. She’s a tad bit annoying, he’s a bit too passive, and the entire scenario at the holding facility continued for too long past our point of interest.

But, it still connected with the main plot, and in this episode it was unceremoniously ended. It involved CTU, so that there was a connection to our main storyline, and then it ended, allowing Sandra to head off and protect our civil liberties. While she may be grating, at least she has clearly been given a sense of importance that can translate into something new, and they are transitioning her into that role now.

And, based on these three categories, the winner of Superpower Bauer Hour Showdown Week Two is… Continue reading →

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