Random TV Thoughts

Some random thoughts from the week of television:

So glad Veronica Mars is back!!  Great, great premiere.  The writing on that show is top-notch.  I deeply wish that it was not on opposite Lost this year, it’s complicating my lifestyle.  But it did very well in the ratings in the new slot – I’m happy for VM, but that means they won’t move it from Wednesdays at 9:00.  Oh well.  The main thing is that we now know who it was at the door – Logan, although Veronica at first thought it was someone else, I’m thinking Duncan.  Logan did some freaky things last year when he was angry and messed-up, I can’t imagine what he’ll do this year.  Oh wait – maybe cause a school bus to go off a cliff because he thinks Veronica and Duncan are on it?  Hard to say, but that was literally a cliffhanging ending.

Smallville – watched the season premiere primarily to see James Marsters, aka Spike – but alas, he didn’t show up until the last five seconds!  It was quite an appearance, though. Overall I’d say the energy level is way up on that show, and it’s packing a bigger punch now that Clark is not such a cheery dope.  

Over on Invasion, I have to say they need to not try so hard to be like Lost.  Right down to the music cues!  Cut it out, guys.  And I’m sorry but NOBODY, not even a hefty, wise-cracking character, gets to say, “Dude” at the sight of something startling or strange except Hurley.  But otherwise, that show is really quite good, and I’m definitely curious as to what’s up, particularly with the chilling William Fichtner as the sheriff who may or may not be an alien!  

Supernatural was good this week, better than last week with the creature in the woods story.  This week it was a creature in the water story, but Amy Acker from Angel made it more interesting.  Unfortunately, having Dean and Sam blow in and out of different towns each week is going to get both old and tired soon, I fear.  

Gilmore Girls – everyone’s hair looked FABULOUS this week, except for Sookie.  Why do they do that to her?  But Emily’s hair looked like it had been worked on for hours.  And they’ve finally given Rory bangs, which she has desperately needed since season 1.  I’m glad they made her witness the freshman orientation at Yale, and then cut to the DAR initiation, where she was the youngest person by 30 years.  Loved Lane and the band, loved Paris – but I wish they would show her with Doyle, they’re going to be living together and I was looking for some Jonathan!  

Lost - Candy Bars and Polar Bears

So many questions!  How did Desmond get in the hatch?  How long has he been there?  Who is this “him” that he’s been waiting for? What’s the punchline to, “What did one snowman say to the other snowman?”

Actually, according to numerous joke web sites, the answer to that last one is, “Can you smell carrots?”  But the other questions remain unanswered.  Another riveting episode, although I have to say, I wasn’t that enthralled with Michael’s flashback story.  I mean, obviously it was meant to make us realize how much he loves Walt and why he’s so determined to get him back.  But didn’t we know that already?  I did not feel that it was nearly as insightful as most of the other back stories.  I read somewhere that originally they had intended for it to be Locke’s back story, which undoubtedly would have been fascinating, and would have made more sense because the previous week was about Jack, and the two of them are so opposite – but they changed it, probably because they wanted to focus on the guys out at sea.

Speaking of which, this episode had some great funny moments.  
Sawyer to Michael as they are arguing: “What are you gonna do, splash me?”
Sawyer to Michael after he pried the bullet out of his own shoulder: “You got a band-aid?”
Locke to Desmond when he asks who’s coming down the hatch now: “That would be Jack.”

Sharks.  I know I’m going to have nightmares about that part.  Get your freakin’ legs and arms out of the water, Sawyer!  I thought that when Sawyer was trying to save Michael, and yelling, “Mike, Mike!” over and over, that was terrific.  The real Sawyer shining through.  Of course, then they both started blaming each other and acting like stubborn jerks.  But again, when Sawyer woke up in the morning and saw that Michael was crying, you could see his sympathy.  

And how freaky was that when Jin came stumbling out of the jungle screaming?  Man.  These others are so disturbing – it looks like we’re going to find out more about them – and apparently they’ve got at least one person from the back of the plane!  Cool. Can’t wait until next week.

Break Out of Prison Already!

I have to say, I had high hopes for this show, and I’m sad to find myself with mixed feelings about it.  It’s a very interesting and wonderfully improbably premise, but I’m beginning to feel impatient with the prison part of it, and I’m ready for the break.  Wentworth Miller is terrific as the guy who gets himself sent to prison in order to break out his older brother from death row.  But his character is so deliberate and so laconic that I find myself wanting to yell, “Do something, already!”  The mislead of the week is starting to get old, too – each week it seems as if Scofield (Miller) is going to do one thing, based on his freaky tattoos, but it turns out to be something else.  Example: in one episode, it seemed that Scofield was going to poison his crazy cellmate’s toothpaste so he could carry on his plans – but instead, he poured the acid mix down a drain in the infirmary (for reasons yet unexplained).  In another, we’re lead to believe that there are three guards named English, Fitz and Percy, and one of them is going to be killed.  Instead it turns out that these are the names of three streets near the prison, and Scofield wants to find out down which of these streets the cops come from when a prisoner goes missing.  It’s all just a little too clever.

As a prison story, it’s no Oz, and as a massive government conspiracy story, it’s no X-Files.  The actors are all good, and it’s certainly an imaginative show, which is great to see.  I’m sticking with it for now, but like many of the other new fall shows, the jury is out.

Side note: After watching some of last night’s episode this morning, I flipped to Buffy, and saw Wentworth Miller again!  He was in the second season episode “Go Fish,” in which a bizarre steroid mix turns the swim team into creatures from the black lagoon.  Wentworth memorably bursts his own skin, an image that ends up in the show’s credits in subsequent seasons.  From a fish on Buffy to a guy the other prisoners call “Fish”…

New TV Thrills & Chills

Now that I’ve seen at least the premieres of the new supernatural/alien/kooky mystery shows, I’m ready to pick a winner!  And the winner is…I’m not sure yet.  After the riveting two-part premiere of Threshold, I was all set to make a declaration.  But I felt that the episode from Friday was weak – relying too much on Carla Gugino’s charms and not enough on her great supporting cast.  I hope they are not always going to be limited to standing around in the lab or the office while she charges around getting herself into trouble.  Peter Dinklage is such a terrific actor!  If you haven’t seen The Station Agent, you must.  And the dialogue is frequently weak, especially Carla’s – lines like, “What’s risk management without a little risk?” and “Whatever that guy’s on makes PCP look like baby aspirin” are definitely not propelling the show to a higher level of quality.  She even looked a little embarrassed after she delivered that last one.

I’m also not 100% convinced about Invasion either – it’s definitely got a good cast, high marks for setting up an intriguing situation, and an excellent sense of place.  The Florida Everglades has an inherent creepy quality about it, and post-hurricane, it seems even more desolate and its inhabitants more vulnerable.  I’m staying open to the possibilities, but it ain’t no Lost.

And that’s probably the problem with all these new dramas – they are trying too hard to be either Lost, The X-Files, or a combination of both.  Supernatural went ahead and directly referenced X-Files in the first episode, and clearly is striving for that mix of an overarching mystery combined with monsters-of-the-week.  Right now, I’d say the only thing making the show worthwhile is Jensen Ackles, who positively crackles with charisma.  He’s a TV star.

Jury’s out on Surface, too – I thought the premiere was pretty interesting, but I’m afraid the monster(s), whatever they are, looked a little silly.  Don’t show too much until the third act – didn’t you people see Jaws?  But I’m interested enough to keep watching for a while – I don’t want to fall in love too much with any of these shows in case they get cancelled.  

More Lost...

Just a quick note - forgot to mention that Desmond shot himself up with something before the alarm went off to let him know that the hatch had been opened. Apparently the needle had the numbers on it! I didn't notice that but will be watching the show again at some point and will look for it. Also, there's a theory going around that the SUV driver who was killed by Jack's wife, Sarah, in her car accident was Shannon's father. The guy's name was Rutherford and that's her name, and she and Boone apparently discussed the fact that her father (his stepfather) is dead. Interesting! I figured he was someone. It's all connected...

Lost is Back!

So…is this a character flashback?...hmm...if so, which character?  It looks a bit like Sawyer – longish hair, likes to work out…but the timing makes no sense.  This guy has anachronistic computers and workout equipment – he even has RECORD ALBUMS.  So it can’t be Sawyer.  He’s too young to have been a full-grown adult male in the late ‘70’s or early ‘80’s when this guy obviously must live.  Right?  An alarm goes off, the guy suddenly suits up, grabs a gun from a serious arsenal, and uses a system of mirrors to see what’s going on.  And lo, one of the mirrors is on the floor…at the bottom…of the hatch, where Jack and Locke are peering down…!!!

Amazing.  What an opening.  This show puts all other shows to shame.

A quick recap – Jack doesn’t want to explore the hatch, he insists that they go back to the caves.  Locke resists but then gives in.  On the way back, Jack asks Hurley what’s up with the numbers, so Hurley tells him the story in brief.  The one thing Jack focuses on is not the fact that Hurley won $114 million, but that he was in a psych ward.  Back at the caves, Shannon is looking for Vincent – she and Sayid go into the jungle to look for him.  Vincent barks, and they see him sitting in a clearing, but he runs off as they approach.  Shannon can’t keep up with Sayid and she trips and falls.  Suddenly she hears whispering voices all around her.  In a total panic, she suddenly sees Walt standing there, drenched from head to toe.  He tries to say something to hear but it’s not intelligible.  Sayid comes running back, and when Shannon turns around, Walt is gone.  She starts telling people at the caves about seeing Walt, and everyone is arguing about what’s going on, and Charlie says there were no “others,” that it was just Danielle who had lit the fire.  Jack and his group return from the hatch, and Jack makes a little speech telling them all about it.  He says they will post guards and remain at the caves and that when the sun comes up in a few hours, they’ll all be there.  Locke appears, carrying ropes, and announces that he’s going into the hatch.  Everyone watches him go.  Kate decides she’s going to go after him.  Locke lowers her into the hatch, because she’s later, except that part way down, a tree breaks and she starts to fall.  Locke clutches the vine with bloody hands.  Kate says she’s all right, except – she hears a noise like a metal door sliding open.  Suddenly a blazing light comes out of the hatch – Locke leans back from it, still clinging to the rope.  Kate screams.  The metal door sound is heard again. The light goes out.  Locke pulls up the now slack vine, yelling for Kate.  She’s gone.  
Jack then tells Hurley that he’s going to the hatch too.  When he gets there, no one’s there.  He goes down into it.  At the bottom, he finds a kind of tunnel or hallway – he has Kate’s flashlight that he dropped, and he also has a gun.  He moves along slowly.  Suddenly light comes on and the song that was playing earlier starts up again on the record player.  Jack momentarily panics, but then moves on, seeing no one.  He comes into an open chamber with a curved roof, full of antiquated computer equipment that is all buzzing away.  He sees a blinking cursor on a computer screen and moves to touch it.  Locke says, “Don’t do that.”  Jack turns and pulls his gun on Locke.  “Where’s Kate?”  Locke tells him she’s fine.  Then a gun appears next to Locke’s temple.  Jack can’t see who it is.  The person says to put the gun down or he’ll shoot Locke.  Jack asks Locke if this is his destiny.  The person holding the gun comes out from behind Locke.  Jack freaks out because he recognizes the guy….

Which brings us to a quick recap of the flashback portion of the show.  It’s Jack’s past we’re seeing – back to the time when his future wife, Sarah, was brought into the ER at his hospital with a crushed spine from a car accident.  He doesn’t think she’ll ever walk again.  Sarah’s current fiancée doesn’t seem like he’ll stick around when Jack tells him the prognosis.  Jack goes in to operate on her back to see what he can do, after promising her that he will fix her.  Afterwards, he goes for a mad run up and down the steps of a nearby stadium.  Another guy suddenly appears and begins running up and down too.  Jack strives to beat the guy to the top, but falls, twisting his ankle.  The guy comes over and they talk about what they were doing there.  The guy says he’s training, and that he is “almost a doctor.”  Jack says that he is a doctor, and when the guy asks why he’s running like a maniac, he explains that he promised a patient he would fix her, but he didn’t.  The guy asks if he’s sure he didn’t fix her, and Jack says, it would take a miracle, and the guy basically says he thinks that’s certainly possible.  He introduces himself as Desmond – and tells Jack, “See you in another life.”  Back at the hospital, Jack weeps as he tells Sarah that she will be paralyzed for the waist down for the rest of her life.  She thinks he’s joking, because she can move her toes.  Jack weeps even harder as he tests her responses and realizes that a miracle really did happen.

Of course, Desmond is the guy who is in the hatch.  The guy who spins albums on a record player.  The guy who currently has a gun on Locke.  But how can it be the same guy?  The timing makes no sense.  Jack clearly didn’t meet Sarah twenty years ago.  I believe that Desmond was one of the crew of scientists with Danielle, although maybe not.  His presence there could be totally unrelated.  However, after the hatch blew up, Kate noticed that on the inside of the hatch door, it said “Quarantined.”  And Danielle had talked about how her fellow crew members had all become “sick.” Of course, she also said that she killed them all – but maybe that’s why this guy walled himself off.  Who knows?  Mysteries galore!

To me, the most riveting moment (out of many) was also the most disturbing – the image of Walt, dripping wet, desperate to communicate.  Terrifying!  What does it mean?  Was Walt psychically projecting himself to Shannon somehow?  

The promos for next week promise that we will see what happened to the rest of the castaways – i.e. the poor folks on the boat.  There is so much ground to cover!  And of course, hopefully soon we’ll be finding out what happened to the back of the plane…I can’t wait!

Grizzly Man

In October of 2003, Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, were killed by a grizzly bear in Alaska.  Werner Herzog’s documentary, Grizzly Man, is a fascinating story of Treadwell’s life and death.  The film is disturbing, funny, tragic, and great..

Herzog weaves Treadwell’s own footage with interviews he conducted with Treadwell’s friends, scientific experts, and the coroner (a strange man who would not have been miscast on The X-Files) who examined the remains and explains what happened.  

Treadwell thought the bears knew and loved him, the way he loved them. He gave them cute names like Mr. Chocolate, and while edging away from them, talked to them like recalcitrant children.  He describes himself as a “gentle warrior” and the bears as his good friends.

It is telling that while Treadwell certainly filmed the bears, he spent a significant amount of time filming himself.   His capacity for endlessly talking about himself was limitless.  He also, amusingly, filmed himself leaping down trails, with an idea towards creating a TV show, a la the Crocodile Hunter.  As Herzog points out in his narration, Treadwell thought like a filmmaker.  He also thought like an egomaniac.

It is unfortunate that no one got Treadwell the help he so clearly needed.  His manic depression is obvious in the film, as he weeps about how the bears saved his life, or over a bee he thinks is dead (it eventually moves), and then at other times, screams and curses at the camera in a out-of-control rage.  At one point, he yelled invectives against the Park Service for a good ten minutes.  At another time, he overreacts to a fox stealing a baseball hat, screaming, “Oh my God” and “Damn you,” all out of proportion to what is happening.  The audience wants to laugh, but it’s uncomfortable laughter, because it’s clear that Treadwell was a deeply troubled person.  And, of course, hovering over the whole film is the fact that he was killed.

Treadwell repeatedly says that he knows that his life is on the line the entire time that he is living near the bears.  He says over and over, “I could be killed at any moment.”  But it does not seem that he really thought about that reality, or understood what it meant.  It seemed more likely that he was bragging, as he often did, about his own bravery and his self-appointed role as the bear’s “protector.”  There is no evidence that he actually did protect the bears from anything – in fact, he films some people who throw rocks at a bear, but claims that he did not want to “reveal” himself to them.  

A few hours before he died, Treadwell filmed himself in a melancholy mood, just feet from the site of his brutal killing.  It’s very difficult to watch, and hard not to extrapolate that Treadwell perhaps had a premonition about his own death.  Either way, it makes for chilling cinema.

Outside magazine has a great article, written a few months after the attack, that details the events surrounding the killings, most of which are illuminated in the film.  

Robert Wise

Just a quick note on Robert Wise, who died yesterday – check out the NY Times obit.  I think it’s important to remember these great filmmakers of a previous generation – and educate the next generation by showing them the great films made in the 20th century.  The Times notes that while Orson Welles was famously only 25 when he directed Citizen Kane, Wise was only 26 when he edited it!  Of course, he also directed The Sound of Music and West Side Story, two of the best musicals ever made.  Hats off to Mr. Wise.

Emmy Picks

With any awards shows, there is always what they will do, and what I wish they would do.  Here are my predictions and my preferences for the main categories at Sunday night’s Emmys:

Drama Series
My prediction: Lost – it’s just GOTTA be!
My preference: Lost!

Comedy Series
My prediction: Desperate Housewives – they’re on a roll
My preference: Arrested Development (DH is really a drama, not a comedy, people!)

Lead Actor in a Drama
My prediction: Hugh Laurie – he’s got all the buzz
My preference: Kiefer Sutherland – best season ever of 24

Lead Actress in a Drama
My prediction: Mariska Hargitay – she’s got the Golden Globe win and the buzz
My preference: Glenn Close – she was AMAZING on The Shield, catch it in reruns next year if you missed it

Lead Actor in a Comedy
My prediction: Ray Romano (those Emmy voters are sentimental fools)
My preference: Tony Shalhoub – he made me laugh hysterically during one episode of Monk this summer, I think he’s brilliant at the comedy AND the drama.

Lead Actress in a Comedy
My prediction: Teri Hatcher.  It’s just her year.
My preference: Marcia Cross, although as with Tony Shalhoub, I think she’s doing a great job with both the comedy and the drama on a show that’s a mix of both.

I’ll also note that I believe Lost will win the writing award – and you won’t find a more well-written show anywhere.  Only problem is, two eps are nominated – the pilot, which was of course incredible, and Walkabout, written by David Fury, former writer/producer/director of Buffy and Angel, as well as actor as “the Mustard Man” in the musical episode of Buffy.  That makes me love him, but truly, his Lost episode was so amazingly brilliant, I think he’s got an excellent shot.

E!Online has a handy one-page printable ballot here and a good Emmys section overall.

Gilmore Girls is Back!

Last night’s season premiere of Gilmore Girls was quite good.  I am concerned that Lorelai isn’t going to go through with the marriage, of course, especially since she made the decision at the worst possible moment and is obviously in deep denial about what’s happening with Rory.  The latter’s transformation into a rich, spoiled brat seems to be complete – but it IS more interesting dramatically than the always perfect child she usually is.  I loved it when Emily (and her maid) woke Rory up in the morning and began bustling around, drawing a bath and providing her with organic pastries.  I guess we’ve got to believe that Rory is really getting sucked into the lifestyle her grandparents have to offer.  That scene with Logan and his shallow, uninteresting friends was tedious, though – the Rory we know and love would never enjoy hanging around with people like that.  Meanwhile, Paris of course steals the whole show in her two scenes.  Her interaction with Luke was priceless!  Speaking of Luke/Scott Patterson, is it my imagination, or has he dyed his hair?  It looked remarkably reddish-blond to me.  The other supporting characters were also great, as usual – Kirk with the rings he gets from wooing lonely women, and especially Sally Struthers, as she runs frantically down the street to ask Luke about the Rory/Lorelai rift.  The look on her face when Kirk eyed her engagement ring was fantastic.

I’m definitely on board and looking forward to a season full of conflict.

Lost DVD

Just a quick note on the Lost Season 1 DVD.  It’s great!  I haven’t watched any of the episodes with commentary yet, but I’ve been poking around in the bonus features and it’s a blast.  They spend quite a bit of time on the creation of and preparation for the pilot, which was essentially on the scale of a feature film.  Interesting insights into the casting process.  Obviously they knew all along that at some point, a DVD was a possibility, so there’s lots of making-of footage.  A particular highlight has to do with boar wrangling.  The first boars they got were local, untrained animals, and they had zero interest in chasing anyone or acting fierce.  There’s hilarious footage of Charlie, aka Dominic Monaghan, trying to get a boar to chase him, while the boar noses around in the grass and ignores Dominic completely.  So, for the later episode involving Sawyer and a boar he is convinced is out to get him, they brought trained animals from the U.S. mainland.  Sawyer, aka Josh Holloway, had to run through a field over and over again while the boar’s trainer encouraged him to give chase.  At one point, Josh slumps against a fence and announces, “This is boar-ing.”  Ha!  I love a good pun once in a while.

The other thing that made me laugh out loud was a clip from the Jimmy Kimmel show.  I’m no fan of Jimmy, but he went to the Lost set and had some really funny moments with the cast.  The best part was when he discovers the identity of the island monster…trust me, you need to see it!

The Truth is Stranger Than Fiction

I had four documentaries on my list this summer that I definitely wanted to see – and on Saturday I finally checked off the last one – Murderball. Bad title, I think that may have been why it didn’t do better at the box office. It was actually a surprisingly moving film, without being sentimental or maudlin about its subjects. “Murderball” is a nickname for wheelchair rugby, played competitively at a national and international level, by men with at least partial upper body mobility. The players are tough and reckless, hurling their souped-up chairs at each other, elated when they win, and devastated when they lose. The film is framed by the competition between the US and Canadian teams, whose rivalry is inflamed by the fact that the coach for Canada is a former player for the US who took the job out of spite when he didn’t make the US team’s cut due to his age. The coach, Joe Soares, is a man so filled with rage and hatred, so humorless, and so hard on his gawky young son, that for most of the movie he’s hard to like. But he redeems himself somewhat by rushing back from a competition to see his son play viola, and being supportive and kind even though he wishes his son was athletic instead. The joy on the boy’s face when he looks out at the crowd and sees that his dad made it is so palpable – it’s a wonderful and extremely human moment.

Although it is in some ways a sports movie, with a tense build-up to the final meeting between USA and Canada at the Paralympics in Athens that is as classic as any countdown to the big match, it is very much about the lives of the individual players – their stories of what their lives used to be, what happened to change them, and how they have survived and changed as they were forced to live their lives in a wheelchair. Also poignant is the story of a recently paralyzed young man, who struggles just with the mere concept of what his life is like now, as his mom tries hard to make it bearable for him.

Towards the end, Mark Zupan, a guy who initially seems to be the most “murderous” of the murderball players, goes to speak at a rehab center, where he meets the young man we’ve been following, and lets him try out his rugby chair, which basically has shields for wheels. Later, at a Paralympics press conference, Zupan talks about the experience of seeing the boy’s face light up when he sits in that chair. The idea of playing wheelchair rugby someday, as well as seeing Mark Zupan, who is so confident about his abilities despite his limitations, has a huge impact, and who knows? It may be the thing that saves this young man from total despair.

As to the other docs that were on my list – I could write a whole book on my feelings about Grizzly Man, but maybe I’ll save that for another post. If you haven’t seen it, don’t wait – get out there. I wish I had seen March of the Penguins earlier in the summer – but I will say that I think it’s great that it’s done so well at the box office. The more commercially viable documentaries are, the more studios will back their makers, and hopefully, the greater the quality that will emerge. Anyway, M of the P was certainly a superior nature film, and very enjoyable, but it didn’t rock my world like Grizzly Man did.

And Mad Hot Ballroom was very cute, certainly a feel-good type of film, about these junior high kids in New York’s less appealing neighborhoods who compete with other schools at ballroom dancing. There were some great moments in this film, both touching and hilarious, largely stemming from the childrens’ uncanny ability to look into the camera and say the most unexpected things.

That’s what’s so great about documentaries. The truth is always stranger than fiction can ever be. A good doc shows us that we are all such individuals – that there are so many odd, strange, clever, different people out there. You turn a camera on someone, and they will say and do the most amazing and unbelievable things.

First Blog Ever

Welcome to my blog! I'm going to be ranting and raving about the new TV season, the fall line-up of movies (Oscar hopefuls and not-so-hopefuls) and anything else that comes to mind.

When it comes to the new TV season, so far I've seen Prison Break, and while I'm not completely hooked yet, I'm definitely going to give it a chance. I've got Rome on TIVO but haven't gotten there yet - hopefully this weekend. Last night I TIVO'd Reunion, which looks promising. Other new shows I am psyched to try out: Invasion, Threshold, Surface, Kitchen Confidential, How I Met Your Mother, Supernatural...

And of course, all I can think about is LOST! Season premiere September 21st. I just got Season 1 on DVD and can't wait to get into it and check out the extras. I'll be posting my reactions and maybe brief recaps on Thursdays, I hope.

The one bummer about Lost is that it's on opposite my other favorite show of last year, Veronica Mars. I'll be taping VM and can hardly wait to see what happens to her next.

Other returning shows I'm looking forward to - Gilmore Girls, Nip/Tuck...not a lot of others. Definitely giving up on ER now - last year was so horrible. 24 doesn't return until January, so I'll be waiting for that - there's an example of a show that improved greatly in its fourth year - not a typical occurence.

Next blog will be a wrap-up of the hot summer documentaries...I saw Grizzly Man last week and I'm still thinking about it...tomorrow I'm seeing Murderball!