Channel flippin' fun
Some time ago I saw the pilot episode of Pushing Daisies, the new Bryan Fuller series that combines fantasy, crime solving, and pie-making in a goofy fairy-tale confection that's wrapped in genial narration by Jim Dale. Watching the aired version was no less amusing and engaging -- I like the majority of the characters and think the show is perfectly cast, even Kristin Chenoweth, who I generally can't stand. I hope the series retains this level of charm and quirk -- and I really, really, hope that it doesn't fall prey to Fuller's usual luck (he either gets tossed from his own show, or the show gets canceled out from under him.)
CSI is back in its various flavors, of course. I enjoyed the season opener for the main show, although it required me to avoid thinking about some of the more egregious elements of the production. Jorja Fox did a nice job here, as did William Petersen. I haven't yet looked at CSI: Miami (I may skip this entirely this year) or CSI: NY, which I pretty much forgot to watch during the latter half of last season.
I finally got around to 300, stepping aside to video for a moment. Well, it made for a couple of hours of semi-interesting viewing, although it did seem like a thirty minute piece blown out to two hours of shouty, noisy, art-school wonkiness. The VFX were impressive, the six-packs were mighty, the prosthetics weren't too great, go tell the Spartans that we'll bring out own Trojans (oh, shut up.)
Finally finished listening to Quiller Meridian. It's typical of the latter-day Quiller novels, in that the author seems to be going through the motions in a formula he initially set out in The Quiller Memorandum, where as the pressure on Quiller increases and the closer disaster looms, the more he ends up swearing at his own nervous system (amongst other things.) Bloody little organism.... Still, the books are engaging, and usually not overlong, and they tend to be smart. The agents in the mysterious "Bureau" that Quiller works for generally don't go into the field armed, and in some respects they almost operate via an organizational chart and sometimes sound remarkably like bored bureaucrats, except for those times when Quiller's nervous energy is off the charts and he wants to hit things.
Eureka wrapped up its season with an episode that's rather dull. This was not a very good season, and they're still making poor use of Henry (Joe Morton.) They've also set it up so that Henry doesn't have to be there next season -- which will be a major loss to the series, if so.
NCIS - Pauley Perrette just keeps on being wonderful. I like the show in general, even when it gets a bit weird and loose-limbed, but she really gives the show some real heart.
Smallville. Wow, Clark's lucky that his cousin came out of suspended animation just in time for his decision to bugger off to the Fortress for good. That way Shelby the dog is going to get fed every day. Laura Vandervoort is playing Kara, who has traded in her original diaphanous gown for boob tube, short shorts, kinky boots, and a sawn off jacket (in other words, costuming modeled on the current comics version) and it would be nice to see some actual life in her eyes -- she has a disturbingly dead-eyed look. Her reaction to finding out that her home planet blew up right after she left is to twitch a couple of times, and then apparently switch to concern about her nails or something. In other news, Lex tracks down Lana, viewers squeal in outrage because, y'know, angry pink squirrel. Meanwhile, the voice of Jor-El (and I think I play Jor-El so much better...!) trash-talks the rest of the El family, which is, well, rather ill-mannered of him...especially as it suggests they're going to follow the recently abandoned comics storyline of insane Jor-El and Kara programmed to kill phantoms, the possessed, and dear old Kal-El. I guess they can screw up Supergirl worse than DC did.
I'm going to bed now. My sleep patterns are all over the damn map lately.
CSI is back in its various flavors, of course. I enjoyed the season opener for the main show, although it required me to avoid thinking about some of the more egregious elements of the production. Jorja Fox did a nice job here, as did William Petersen. I haven't yet looked at CSI: Miami (I may skip this entirely this year) or CSI: NY, which I pretty much forgot to watch during the latter half of last season.
I finally got around to 300, stepping aside to video for a moment. Well, it made for a couple of hours of semi-interesting viewing, although it did seem like a thirty minute piece blown out to two hours of shouty, noisy, art-school wonkiness. The VFX were impressive, the six-packs were mighty, the prosthetics weren't too great, go tell the Spartans that we'll bring out own Trojans (oh, shut up.)
Finally finished listening to Quiller Meridian. It's typical of the latter-day Quiller novels, in that the author seems to be going through the motions in a formula he initially set out in The Quiller Memorandum, where as the pressure on Quiller increases and the closer disaster looms, the more he ends up swearing at his own nervous system (amongst other things.) Bloody little organism.... Still, the books are engaging, and usually not overlong, and they tend to be smart. The agents in the mysterious "Bureau" that Quiller works for generally don't go into the field armed, and in some respects they almost operate via an organizational chart and sometimes sound remarkably like bored bureaucrats, except for those times when Quiller's nervous energy is off the charts and he wants to hit things.
Eureka wrapped up its season with an episode that's rather dull. This was not a very good season, and they're still making poor use of Henry (Joe Morton.) They've also set it up so that Henry doesn't have to be there next season -- which will be a major loss to the series, if so.
NCIS - Pauley Perrette just keeps on being wonderful. I like the show in general, even when it gets a bit weird and loose-limbed, but she really gives the show some real heart.
Smallville. Wow, Clark's lucky that his cousin came out of suspended animation just in time for his decision to bugger off to the Fortress for good. That way Shelby the dog is going to get fed every day. Laura Vandervoort is playing Kara, who has traded in her original diaphanous gown for boob tube, short shorts, kinky boots, and a sawn off jacket (in other words, costuming modeled on the current comics version) and it would be nice to see some actual life in her eyes -- she has a disturbingly dead-eyed look. Her reaction to finding out that her home planet blew up right after she left is to twitch a couple of times, and then apparently switch to concern about her nails or something. In other news, Lex tracks down Lana, viewers squeal in outrage because, y'know, angry pink squirrel. Meanwhile, the voice of Jor-El (and I think I play Jor-El so much better...!) trash-talks the rest of the El family, which is, well, rather ill-mannered of him...especially as it suggests they're going to follow the recently abandoned comics storyline of insane Jor-El and Kara programmed to kill phantoms, the possessed, and dear old Kal-El. I guess they can screw up Supergirl worse than DC did.
I'm going to bed now. My sleep patterns are all over the damn map lately.