OT: New Fall Series

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 10:57 am

I've bought into Heroes hook, line and sinker. LOVE IT! For those of you who are interested, NBC is streaming the first two episodes at their website.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:56 am

Slumberland wrote:
icvu42 wrote:Did anybody watch "The Nine" last night? I thought it was pretty good, but I have the feeling that 2 months from now, the audience still won't have any idea of what happend in the bank.

Rick
I think that's pretty much guaranteed. What happened in there? Unless a midget gave birth to a full grown man on the back of a circus elephant, I don't care. How dare of they, during Lost, to try and sell me another show where uninteresting answers to potentially interesting questions get trickled out over mind-numbing lengths of time. I only have room for one show like that in my life.

I bit and watched it while recording it on my brand new HD DVR. HD makes you watch anything sometimes.

So shortly after the ordeal, where the women may have been raped and everyone at least traumatized, including the surviving bank robber, they all go to the funeral of one of the hostages who dies and then go to a reception where they're all chummy with each other. In fact, two of them hook up.

So they were strangers before and go through some shellshocking trauma which lasts at most a few hours or maybe a few days and all of a sudden they're best buds?

Or is that suppose to be part of the mystery? One thing definitely unexpected is one of the hostages goes to visit the surviving bank robber.

There's a rumor that by the end of this season, they will show what happened during the bank robbery and that subsequent seasons, if there are any, will be character exposition and dealing with the aftermath. Kind of the reverse of the way Lost is doing it.

But both Lost and The Nine are just showing bits of the main plot, just in different order.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:03 pm

RobVarak wrote:I've bought into Heroes hook, line and sinker. LOVE IT! For those of you who are interested, NBC is streaming the first two episodes at their website.

I'm also loving it too. The first episode was cool but #2 was very cool. The cop who discovered he can read minds really intrigued me. So far its a keeper. Can't wait until next week's episode.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:27 pm

Slumberland wrote:
Brando70 wrote:The part in the second episode where they were doing rehersal for the religious quiz sketch was painfully unfunny.
I TOTALLY agree. The geniuses Matt and Danny are comig home to roost and that's the kind of punchline-less comedy that's suddenly yielding boffo ratings? Give me a break.

The one thing from the 'show' montage that made me laugh for some reason... the token fat cast member as the over-eager golf audience guy... "for the love of all that's holy... GET IN THE HOLE!" There was something veru Chris Farley about that.

Yeah, and "when reached for comment, a bear said 'RRAAARRR!'" also seemed like a classic Tina Fey kind of joke. What killed me was how, during the rehersal, the producers and writers were laughing when nothing that was happening was funny.

They should take a page from Larry Sanders -- keep the actual show in the background, and only bring it to forefront every so often.

I'll be curious to see how it compares to 30 Rock.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:33 pm

I had the same thought about the bear joke... very Fey. And yet they're giving her blank looks when she tells it, but laughing at the rehearsal for the religion sketch. And did everyone notice Dawn from the British version of The Office magically appearing? Who's she playing? Ah, Tim and Dawn... maybe the best TV romance ever.

I'm really looking forward to 30 Rock, in part because you've got people who can actually write sketch comedy involved. Not to mention the triumphant return of the sublimely weird Tracy Morgan to network TV... I'm Brian Fellows!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 3:56 pm

Slumberland wrote:And did everyone notice Dawn from the British version of The Office magically appearing? Who's she playing? Ah, Tim and Dawn... maybe the best TV romance ever.

Noticed it right away. Also noticed how lousy Lucy Davis (actress who played Dawn) looked. Not that she ever was gorgeous on the BBC version of "The Office," but it looked like she has fallen to the plague of "Hollywood anorexia" and a really bad nose job from the angle she was shown in "Studio 60."

You're right about Dawn and Tim. The ultimate office romance, and the fact that it never was consummated until the wrap-up Christmas special of "The Office" is one of the many reasons I much prefer the BBC version over the NBC version.

It would have been so easy for Gervais to fall prey to what all the viewers wanted, for Dawn to dump the cad Lee and go with Tim, during the regular show. But Gervais never fell for the obvious with the Beeb version, which is great.

Take care,
PK

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:05 pm

Another good episode of Heroes last night. Surprisingly, the show can be pretty dark at times. (SPOILER)

The way that the villain (name escapes me) "recovered" from the gunshots last night was creepy. Also, I love the Japanese guy

The ending to the show (autopsy scene) freked me out also

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 3:30 pm

Smith canceled
Heros picked up for the full season.

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:58 pm

Danimal wrote: Heros picked up for the full season.

Great news.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:14 pm

Diablo25 wrote: The way that the villain (name escapes me) "recovered" from the gunshots last night was creepy. Also, I love the Japanese guy

Hiro is the absolute best. "I wonder if I need to conceal my real identity?"

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:43 am

I haven't had a chance to watch last night's Studio 60 yet, but I did catch up on last week's ("West Coast Delay") and thought it was excellent. I still don't get why the network president spends all her time obsessing over what seems to be a second banana sketch comedy show (I so wish SNL didn't exist in their fictional world), but the pacing and chain of events was pretty entertaining. And good on Ricky and Ron for not giving up their guy.

Enjoyed 30 Rock as well, though it's definitely lighter fare than Studio 60. But I find Tracy Morgan utterly fascinating.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:46 am

"Studio 60" jumped the shark for me last night. I simply don't have time to watch a show about nothing anymore, despite the good dialogue and acting:

http://littleblender.blogspot.com/2006/ ... shark.html

Take care,
PK

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:49 am

I'll hold off on reading your blog post until I watch last night's episode. But that's not good news!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:52 am

Slumberland wrote:I'll hold off on reading your blog post until I watch last night's episode. But that's not good news!

Yeah, as soon as I posted that, I realized I might have pissed on your parade. Sorry -- unintentional. Your post reminded me about the show jumping the shark for me.

Hope you still continue to enjoy it.

Take care,
PK

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:56 am

If any of you haven't seen Heroes yet give it a try. It has kinda surprised me. I was hoping it would be good but its better than I expected. I think (not sure, might have been last week) that NBC is rerunning all 4 episodes this Sunday. If not, I think they have them at their website.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 11:58 am

I don't know, I think the Christine Lahti character is a way to draw out more about the other characters, like Harriet's upbringing.

Of course there's always going to be a love-interest plot but that can be easily ignored.

I liked the showdown over the reality show between Weber and Peete and then the Bill Parcells quote, who was described as a football coach who hasn't won a playoff game in 6 years. Or something like that.

The thing that may limit its appeal is that a lot of the story lines are based on behind-the-scene things going on in the industry that few people know about. For instance, there was supposedly young female executive in charge of programming at one of the networks. Don't know if her personal life made the tabloids though.

snate · Post by **snate** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:03 pm

I'll join in on the Heroes sentiment. It is great. One show I haven't seen mentioned though is Kidnapped. It has a killer cast and has been fantastic so far. It is my favorite new show.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:08 pm

wco81 wrote:I don't know, I think the Christine Lahti character is a way to draw out more about the other characters, like Harriet's upbringing.

So, is Lahti going to report on her story for the entire season? And do these people ever leave work?

At least in "The West Wing" we saw a few scenes outside of the Oval Office, a few scenes outside of the halls of power. And even in the halls of power, there were different meetings, national security emergencies, moments of humor, moments of intense drama.

This show has none of that. It's a masturbatory vehicle for Aaron Sorkin and little more. He's starting to remind me of an overrated sports columnist who writes all sorts of flowery prose that impresses his fellow columnists but really says nothing to his audience.

wco81 wrote:For instance, there was supposedly young female executive in charge of programming at one of the networks. Don't know if her personal life made the tabloids though.

You're thinking of Jamie Tarses at ABC.

Take care,
PK

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:10 pm

Dexter on Showtime is good. Or at least different.

For Six Feet Under fans, Michael C. Hall, the guy who played David Fisher, plays the title character, a psychopath who works for the forensics dept. of Miami PD.

It's based on some novels, about a psychopath who's murderous impulses were channeled towards "good" by his adopted father, an ex-cop.

So he satisfies his blood lust by killing other serial murderers.

The show captures the langorous torpor of Miami pretty well, the underbelly more than the glamorous South Beach patina. Action takes place in the swamp-like areas, where Dexter gets rid of the remains of his victims, or just soaks in the water. Or in some isolated buildings, where Dexter tortures and kills his victims.

Can a show about a monster draw viewers? Well they try to justify it somewhat because Dexter's victims are horrible monsters themselves.

Showtime is promoting the hell out of the show. The first two episodes can be seen at sho.com.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:10 pm

Slumberland wrote: Enjoyed 30 Rock as well, though it's definitely lighter fare than Studio 60. But I find Tracy Morgan utterly fascinating.

I was very nervous about 30 Rock at the beginning of the pilot, because Fey really can't act, and the opening scene was all her. However, once Alec Baldwin appeared, everything started to make a lot more sense. I think I'm really going to enjoy this one.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:16 pm

Yeah, Fey's no powerhouse, but I think she does the whole straight-man thing pretty well (which is essentially what her role seems like it's going to be on this show), I like her writing, and I find her stangely sexy. But I loved the opening with the hot dogs. My girlfriend has that exact same obsessive sense of justice that constantly gets trampled on when living in New York City. She actually cried during that scene. It was cute.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:17 pm

Slumberland wrote:Yeah, Fey's no powerhouse, but I think she does the whole straight-man thing pretty well (which is essentially what her role seems like it's going to be on this show), I like her writing, and I find her stangely sexy. But I loved the opening with the hot dogs. My girlfriend has that exact same obsessive sense of justice that constantly gets trampled on when living in New York City. She actually cried during that scene. It was cute.

Tina Fey can't act, and she's not funny. But she has a deceptively nice rack.

Still, "30 Rock" lost me at hello last week, despite Alec Baldwin's very strong performance.

Take care,
PK

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:17 pm

I know it's not 'new,' but Battlestar Galactica continues to excel as well.

I've been intrigued by Dexter, but not enough to justify subscribing to Showtime. Maybe when the DVDs come out.

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:20 pm

I am all caught up in Heroes. I've got that "can't wait for the next episode" feeling. I hope it doesn't falter.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:24 pm

pk500 wrote:Tina Fey can't act, and she's not funny. But she has a deceptively nice rack.

I'm forwarding this to Tina right now.

Did you know she used to be heavy? Sometimes you can spot her doing background work on old episodes of SNL... she looks like a different person.

BSG is great, especially the two hour opener. Last week's seemed more like setup for the impending rescue. The shift to planetside was a shocker, seeing everyone in such a different context, but at this point it feels like they've been there for eons, and I mean that in a good way. The really sell the reality. It'll be such a relief when they get back on that ship.

How can Baltar ever be re-integrated into the fleet after what he's done? Think he'll stay under the protection of the Cylons, like the Baltar of old?