TV catch-up (yes, again)
I'm not in the mood to make a huge long post, so unless something really jumped out at me, these mini-reviews shall be short.
I missed Studio 60 this week (darn you, VCR, for screwing up my taping schedule). So nothing about that, except that I got to see the very beginning which did tape, and was very amused by Harriet acting up during the sketch in which she played a "witch".
HeroesK "pilot pt. 2"
This ep would have played a lot better, imho, if they'd aired the pilot as one 90-minute episode. My friend who saw the whole thing at the ComiCon tells me it was extensively recut to make the two episodes, and in this one you could tell.
I still love Hiro. And the reveal of the 5-weeks-in-the-future was freaky and completely awesome.
I've realized that I *do* love Greg Grundberg in anything he is in. Yes.
Some cool interpersonal stuff developing: Cassie and her dad; the two brothers (though I still don't like either of them much).
"Lost, season 3 premeire"
Well. I was worried about this show after the truly hit-and-miss second season, but that's a promising start! They gave us a new perspective on the Others (and my new name for their village is Evil Wisteria Lane), some excellently creepy mind games, and kept the focus tight on the captive Sawyer, Jack, and Kate.
There are secrets already; we don't know what happened to Kate that her wrists were so cut up by the handcuffs.
The whole human-in-a-cage thing is something that has freaked me out since I was a kid (probably the fault of Mary Norton's The Borrowers series), so I could barely laugh at Sawyer, amusing though part of his predicament was.
I go back and forth about liking Jack. I liked him tonight, because he was trying so hard.
I totally don't believe Julie, that the Others have all that information.
And we still don't know the fate of Eko, Locke, or Desmond. *sigh*
And the prize for good TV so far this week goes to CSI:
CSI, "Toe Tags"
Previously, when this show has tried to change up its format (see "4X4"), it hasn't completely worked. I thought this might be another of those, with each of four small stories introduced and closed by discussions between the corpses in the morgue, talking with each other.
It wasn't even gruesome; I actually really liked the way the bodies of the dead didn't seem to know what had happened, but confident that someone would find out. Gentle, a bit funny, and nicely constructed.
Each of our CSIs got good screentime, and there was room for some excellent character work. The first story, "American Beauty," was Catherine's case, and the way Brass expressed his concern for her working a case in one of Sam Braun's hotels so soon after Sam's death made for a lovely moment.
Warrick got "The No-Brainer," which had some typically ewww CSI moments, but was a lesson in both looking for evidence in unlikely places, and in the human inability to appreciate what we have. (Greg and Sophia helped out on this one.)
Nick's turned out to be a random act of violence: druggie kills retired Marine who just got back from Iraq, then dies while fleeing the scene. Less interesting in some ways, but devestating to our Nicky's soft heart, especially as he tells the young mother/widow why her husband died. (Doc Robbins in the field on this one, yay.)
And then Sara and Grissom working "The Nevada Chainsaw Massacre," and reminding me of what I've been thinking since this season began: Sara references the first lecture she ever heard from Grissom, in San Francisco, way back before our show began. And there's clearly a level of comfortableness between these two, but they're playing it subtle again.
And we end with Grissom giving a mini-lecture in the morgue to some students, and realizing why someone like Sara would be drawn into this work by his approach. "I do this because the dead can't speak for themselves."
I love Grissom so much. I do.
My reaction to next week's CSI preview: "Greg! OMG! Greg! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
I missed Studio 60 this week (darn you, VCR, for screwing up my taping schedule). So nothing about that, except that I got to see the very beginning which did tape, and was very amused by Harriet acting up during the sketch in which she played a "witch".
HeroesK "pilot pt. 2"
This ep would have played a lot better, imho, if they'd aired the pilot as one 90-minute episode. My friend who saw the whole thing at the ComiCon tells me it was extensively recut to make the two episodes, and in this one you could tell.
I still love Hiro. And the reveal of the 5-weeks-in-the-future was freaky and completely awesome.
I've realized that I *do* love Greg Grundberg in anything he is in. Yes.
Some cool interpersonal stuff developing: Cassie and her dad; the two brothers (though I still don't like either of them much).
"Lost, season 3 premeire"
Well. I was worried about this show after the truly hit-and-miss second season, but that's a promising start! They gave us a new perspective on the Others (and my new name for their village is Evil Wisteria Lane), some excellently creepy mind games, and kept the focus tight on the captive Sawyer, Jack, and Kate.
There are secrets already; we don't know what happened to Kate that her wrists were so cut up by the handcuffs.
The whole human-in-a-cage thing is something that has freaked me out since I was a kid (probably the fault of Mary Norton's The Borrowers series), so I could barely laugh at Sawyer, amusing though part of his predicament was.
I go back and forth about liking Jack. I liked him tonight, because he was trying so hard.
I totally don't believe Julie, that the Others have all that information.
And we still don't know the fate of Eko, Locke, or Desmond. *sigh*
And the prize for good TV so far this week goes to CSI:
CSI, "Toe Tags"
Previously, when this show has tried to change up its format (see "4X4"), it hasn't completely worked. I thought this might be another of those, with each of four small stories introduced and closed by discussions between the corpses in the morgue, talking with each other.
It wasn't even gruesome; I actually really liked the way the bodies of the dead didn't seem to know what had happened, but confident that someone would find out. Gentle, a bit funny, and nicely constructed.
Each of our CSIs got good screentime, and there was room for some excellent character work. The first story, "American Beauty," was Catherine's case, and the way Brass expressed his concern for her working a case in one of Sam Braun's hotels so soon after Sam's death made for a lovely moment.
Warrick got "The No-Brainer," which had some typically ewww CSI moments, but was a lesson in both looking for evidence in unlikely places, and in the human inability to appreciate what we have. (Greg and Sophia helped out on this one.)
Nick's turned out to be a random act of violence: druggie kills retired Marine who just got back from Iraq, then dies while fleeing the scene. Less interesting in some ways, but devestating to our Nicky's soft heart, especially as he tells the young mother/widow why her husband died. (Doc Robbins in the field on this one, yay.)
And then Sara and Grissom working "The Nevada Chainsaw Massacre," and reminding me of what I've been thinking since this season began: Sara references the first lecture she ever heard from Grissom, in San Francisco, way back before our show began. And there's clearly a level of comfortableness between these two, but they're playing it subtle again.
And we end with Grissom giving a mini-lecture in the morgue to some students, and realizing why someone like Sara would be drawn into this work by his approach. "I do this because the dead can't speak for themselves."
I love Grissom so much. I do.
My reaction to next week's CSI preview: "Greg! OMG! Greg! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!"