UHF

Now that the first week of new tv has passed, I'll share my thoughts on some of it.

Last night I find myself watching the start of The Amazing Race (a reality show that Adj put me on, and I put Denise on) live as it was recording (LIVE? What was I thinking? In this land of DVRs I never watch live tv anymore). I figured it'd be a nice cap to the night and I could be in bed at nine for my 4am shift. Then 9pm rolls around and the show's still going. Why, oh why did I miss that the season premiere was two hours? As I mentioned in my previous post, OCD qualities require I finish (I would have literally tossed and turned in bed longer than one more hour if I'd gone to bed vowing to watch the rest tomorrow) and so I was up 'til 10 watching tv instead. Anyway. So far the gay brothers entertain me most (especially as they are so very flaming and think they aren't, which plays into a strategy of theirs I can't wait to see play out or backfire), so I'm pushing for them, but the father/son duo with the pink haired son are a close second.

House. Just wow, I didn't think this show could get more boring to me and this Houseified mock up of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest so totally proved me wrong. It was nice to see Franka Potente in any role again. The second time in a week something made me really want to watch Lola Rennt (aka Run Lola Run) again (oddly, not so much that first Bourne movie).

Blink and you'll miss it, but Ray Park is now on Heroes as one of this season's potential villains and in that rare beast for him--a speaking role! I enjoyed his martial artist, dervish style speedster (duh, my speedster weakness shows, I know) just enough to make me think that Heroes is trying to convince me it can be good again. I'm not quite holding my breath yet. This is the first time I've liked every new character to be introduced, even if the old cast grow more and more stale (kill some of them off for real already).

Dollhouse is by far the biggest favorite of my returning shows thus far. I continue to love the way it so effortlessly delves into the grayest areas of morality: this time out with Ballard cashing in his morals about the Dollhouse in order to use the Dollhouse to his own needs, and Langton wanting to establish a romantic relationship with Whiskey, knowing she is just another Active. But more than anything else, what I really loved in the premiere is the interplay between Whiskey and Topher, and how this interplay began to seriously explore questions of existentialism that perhaps only this show ever can. I'm left with so much more thoughts on questions of identity construction and the existence of soul after watching this episode, and I am appreciative. People who gave up on this show 3-4 episodes in and declare it Whedon's worst really are idiots at a fundamental level and I'm not afraid of insulting them so. My only gripes--that Echo's own moments of self-awareness weren't as poignant as Whiskey's, and My Darling Wesley's fake English accent has gone missing now that he's playing a U.S. Senator (shut up, logic plays nothing into this last point).

Survivor: Samoa, and it's repeat strategic oustings of the better, "dangerous" cast members is proving more compelling to me than this show has since before the addition of silly things like Exile Island and hidden immunity idols. That Russell character is definitely one of those love-to-hate players and is driving the show in ways I haven't seen since Richard Hatch.

Fringe. I'm having more difficulty jumping back into loving this. It's a process. More Pacey and less blond chick. And much much more Walter. Denise and I were both commenting on how much more we prefer the "monster of the week" style episodes over the "mythology" episodes--just like X-Files. This led me to wishing Duchovny and Anderson someday make a guest appearance as rival FBI agents to our regular cast, as a tongue-in-cheek homage.

New shows that haven't lost me after the first episode: Community, Modern Family and Cougar Town (Cougar really surprises me; I gave it a shot only due to its being created by Bill Lawrence, you know the guy who created my favorite American comedy, Scrubs, but I really expected my dislike of Courtney Cox' post-Friends work, including her time on Scrubs, had me expecting I would probably hate this. Instead, of the three comedies listed here, it's the one I like the absolute best). I also have definitely fallen in love with Flash Forward already and want much more, even if its gimmick seems impossible to sustain multi-seasonally, like Prisonbreak. New shows that have lost me after episode one: (sorry Ian Somerhader), The Vampire DiariesEastwick, and. . .something else, but it had to have been so dull I really can't grasp at its title at the moment.


What shows am I missing? And who else is antsy for the start of the V remake?

I think Dollhouse and Flash Forward are going to do a lot of work, good work, at distracting me from waiting 'til February for the beginning of the last season of Lost.

Freckles

Jack has one under his right eye I'd never noticed before, ditto the one on Claire's left shoulder. Maybe it's the extra 600-odd pixels per inch, or just the larger physical size of the tv (I'm going with the pixels), but these are minor details I'd never noticed before. I never saw Kate's freckles, and it annoyed me to no end that her nickname from Sawyer was "Freckles" given I could never see them. My goodness, as much as I hate the character, she actually does have freckles, and they are purty. Charlie's tattoo says "Living is easy with eyes closed" which fits his character's story enough that I wonder if it's a fake tattoo like Jack's or if it's a real one of Dominic Monaghan's.

So if you haven't figured it out, I've been slowly re-watching Lost in Blu-Ray. I'm averaging about two episodes a week, which is actually a decent enough pace--at this rate I expect to just finish season 5 (not out yet) as season 6 begins to air. I'm enjoying the massive amount of foreshadowing. There are things in the pilot that foreshadow events & themes of the tail end of season 5. There are a couple other things though. . .inconsistencies? Some time between season one and season five, Jack starts shaving his chest. Maybe his focus in the love triangle (square?) is misplaced? And in episode five, the one that starts with the red shirt drowning who Jack fails to save--we learn, from Charlie, that Charlie can't swim. Charlie can't swim. So unless there's a "Charlie learns to swim" episode I've forgotten, there's a pretty big inconsistency between episode five Charlie and Charliein the last two episodes of season three.

I Called It.

Dollhouse is getting renewed for a second season. There is a Santa Claus. I am very happy about this. But enough giddy-ness, this post is called "I Called It" and that requires a good amount of pat-myself-on-the-back bragging so here goes:

Amy Acker's character, Dr. Saunders was a Doll: I called it (sure, I also wanted her to be Alpha, but ALL of my reasoning for her being a Doll proved out).

On Fringe, Pacey was really Mirror Universe Pacey: I called it.

Lost--John Locke's been dead all season and is still in-the-box: I called it.

More Lost--Juliet dies: Called it (knew she was headlining the V remake next year, which meant she would likely be toast).

Faraday's a Widmore: Called it.

Jack and Kate are royal douches: I didn't call that; those facts have always pretty much just been universal truths.

Setting off the bomb just sends them back to the future: you'll see in a year, I called that too.

I don't think it's just me, and sure I do have a history for calling it (Professor X is the traitor who kills Professor X in Bishop's future--I called that, ask Micah; Ed Norton is Tyler Durden during the first thirty seconds of Fight Club), I just think that a lot of this season's big twists were a bit too over-telegraphed to truly end up being surprises.