The Best TV of 2006

Now that Christmas is over and it’ll be the New Year tomorrow, I figure I’d do a bit of looking back on things. So, the best TV of this year:

New TV

This was the year that the television networks picked up on the fact that serialized TV might sell really well. Following the sucesses of LOST and Prison Break, it seemed like a no brainer. Odd thing is, it didn’t really work as well as people’d predicted. Critic favorites like the Nine and Six Degrees bombed and were cancelled, although a couple held on nicely.

1- Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip – I like TV, the industry, writing, everything. I’d heard about the show earlier on in the year and thought that it sounded bad, but when I saw the pilot episode online, it hooked me from then. This show’s the most important one on there. It takes on religous, governmental, politics, broadcasting theory and ethics in its episodes, stuff that you don’t really see. This is smart TV. The dialogue, characters, plots, all fantastic stuff, and it’s a shame that this show didn’t catch on as well as it should have. Hopefully, we’ll see a season 2 to this.

2- Heroes - This is a fun show. Can’t take it too seriously, but it’s just one of the best geek shows out there. There’s a good kick back to the community with references and things like that that makes it fun to watch, as well as a really cool storyline and characters to match it.

3- Day Break – This was cancelled just the other week, which makes me very unhappy. The good news is that this show’s got all the 13 episodes filmed, or so I heard, so they’ll be out sometime. Detective Hopper’s reliving the same bad day, and while this show couldn’t last very long, it’s got the strongest of all the storylines of any tv show. They should have just billed this as a miniseries or something.

TV That Came Back

Battlestar Galactica – I didn’t think that it could get any darker, but it did, and man, the opening five episodes just blew my mind. There’s been a couple of episodes that I wasn’t thrilled with, but on the whole, Battlestar’s back and kicking ass. Can’t wait to see the next ten episodes. As far as Season 2 went, this year’s half of the episodes was weaker than season 1 and the first half, but they really pulled themselves together towards the end.

Veronica Mars – Season 3’s on a new network and doing pretty well, although they’re not going to be doing an overall mystery this time around. The rape mystery was brought to a conclusion, which was pretty good, and the writing and characters are just as good this time around. Can’t wait to see the next half of the season.

House, MD – House was cured! Sort of. After getting shot, he could walk for four months. Then he’s back to drugs again, and he’s got a cop after him, a former actor from the show Hack, who’s one of the cooler new characters that’s been in the show, much better than Vogler from season 1. House is sarcastic still, and downright mean at times, and they’re really pushing his character around, which doesn’t happen that often.

Prison Break – Okay, they broke out of Fox River, and they’re on the run. A good chunk of them have been killed, right from the first episode. It was good to see the show change gears so quickly, but I don’t think that this has much life left in it. While they’re still alive, they’re still running, and they’ve done a terrific job with it.

Other good ones this year – Supernatural, LOST, Stargate SG-1/Atlantis. Supernatural’s gotten into more of an arc, which is interesting, and they’ve really forced some characterizations out of the brothers, LOST has been interesting and Stargate’s really gotten into it’s stride again, only to be cancelled.

Foreign TV

1- Life on Mars – Aired earlier this year on BBC1 while I was over there. I didn’t catch the show while I was in England, but I did recently. It’s one of the more imaginative and interestin series that I’ve seen, mixing police drama with science fiction and the 1970s. Brilliant show.

2 – Green Wing - This show is hilarious. Simply brilliant show, great acting, really fun sense of humor there.

Misses this year were The Nine, which should have been a movie, Six Degrees, which had an interesting concept, but handled poorly with some bad characters. Smith was promising, but it never took off, which was a shame, that one I actually liked.

In the upcoming year, I’m only looking forwards to one show, and that’s The Dresden Files, airing on SCIFI in January, based off of the books by Jim Butcher. It looks really good, and I can’t wait to watch it.

TV Recap – November 27

This week’s TV. This week seemed to be the one of surprises, at least with Heroes, House, Veronica Mars, Prison Break and Studio 60:

Prison Break, 213: Just when you start to think that a show might start stagnating, it comes back to bite you. Amazing episode this week at the midseason break. The episode was full of surprises, from Lincoln and Michael getting captured in the beginning by Mahone and the Border Patrol, to Bellick getting sent to prison: Fox River, to be precise. That’ll be really odd in upcoming episodes. Plus, Kellerman turns on the company and helps the brothers escape. I didn’t see that coming, although I’ve been guessing that he might turn at some point, ever since he was forced out of the loop. T-Bag finds his old girlfriend, kills another woman, Sucre is in Mexico after bailing out of his airplane. And Mahone was shot, and presumably, killed by Kellerman. I didn’t see that one coming. Gah, I don’t want to wait until January to see the next episode!
Heroes, 110: The flashback episode. The save the cheerleader, save the world arc seems to be somewhat over, and we found out what happened to Hiro when he went back. (Couldn’t save the girl, unfortunently) and talks to himself by mistake (Great Scott!) which was priceless. We also finally get to see Sylar, and the orgins of all the other heroes, Nathan’s car crash, Claire’s accident, Matt meeting up with that girl who can influence people’s thoughts. Great episode, and it really answered some questions.
My prediction – all the Heroes have a gene that allows for mutations, and it’s their own actions that allow the gene to be expressed, due to their circumstances. Claire was injured, Nathan had to jump out of the car, etc. Should be interesting to see how that plays out, if that’s how it happens. It’d fit with the entire adaptation thing that they’ve been pushing. Can’t wait for next week’s, then the midseason finale.
Studio 60, 109: This episode was good, but not as good as the last couple. They take some stabs at the public reactions to box office totals and internet users, and Amanda Peet’s character reveals that she’s pregnant, which pretty much everyone who watches knew, because she was showing last week. The writing crew is down to two people and the cast is downed by the Flu. It was nice to see the show take a very prominent part of the episode this week, down to the writing and acting. Next week’s should be interesting.
Veronica Mars, 309: Last episode of the Herst Rapist. Fantastic episode, I thought. We opened with Veronica very frightened and running away, and then did a two day later cut. The Greek System is reinstated on campus, and they’re doing a bit party, and the rapist posts a message up saying that he’ll be there too. Veronica and company go out, armed with drink mats that can detect roofies and try and find those who’ve been drugged. In the meantime, Dean O’Dell finds that his wife has been sleeping around, thanks to Veronica and her dad doing some looking around, and he goes to confront them with a gun. By the end, we find that it’s Moe and Mercer who were working together, and that there were some tale tell things earlier in the season that tipped us off – The prisoner/guard experiment in a class, which both were in, led to Stalkholm syndrome, and Patty Herst’s casting did the same thing. I thought it came off nicely. The acting and camera for this episode was fantastic, and I believe that it was Rob Thomas at the helm this time. Plus, the next murder is brought in with the murder of Dean O’Dell, which should be interesting.
House, MD, 309: Good episode, as House is getting increasingly irritated at Officer Tridder and Cuddy for keeping him on a leash with a very limited Vicodin Supply, and finally stumbles. A girl is brought in who appears to be allergic to everything. Her body is shutting down and they think that they have the answer with a sort of flesh eating bug, and were about to amputate her arm and leg when Chase came up with the proper diagnosis, which House missed. That was a big moment, and Wilson goes to Tridder with information. Looks like next episode should be very interesting.
Daybreak, 104: Another fantastic episode, I just wish that the ratings would follow this show better. Another day, an Hopper goes to help out his partner, who accidently killed another cop in an argument. This happens a couple of times, and we find out why Andrea was going before Internal Affairs, for giving drug dealers money to keep Eddie safe. We find the significance of the hourglass and that there was a second package – this one with a murder photograph from 1991, which Eddie was on. There’s more things that are linked here, and I love it. And Andrea is starting to carry things over day after day, which is very interesting. Can’t wait for next episode.
Jericho, 110: This was a slightly better episode than usual – There’s still the petty relationships and town things, an election, and the aftermath of Gracie’s death. People in the town go vigilante and finally catch Jonas (?) who has been implicated in the killing. He didn’t do it however, and he’s exiled. Hawkins has some people watching him with a satellite, and apparently people’re coming to meet up with him, which is interesting. Plus, people from a plane crash wander into town, which should be interesting. New episodes in two months, and hopefully, they’ll be focusing more on the bombs and things.
Battlestar Galactica, 309: Very interesting episode this week. Adama sets up a boxing match to get out some agression (And there’s a lot, seeing how many people beat the crap out of each other) and through it all, there’s a ton of flashbacks to life on new Caprica. We learn why Lee and Kara are pissed off at each other – they had a one night stand before Kara went and got married, and a bunch of other random things. It was interesting to see life on New Caprica when it was a hopeful time, and before everyone got angry. The episode really worked in that respect, and it seems to me that this is the last that we’ll see of New Caprica. I suspect that this’ll be a lesser favored episode by fans, due to the standalonish nature of the episode, but it did have some interesting implications, but also some rather silly scenes, such as Lee yelling out into the night sky that he loved Kara. There’s more to that storyline, I’m sure.

TV Recap: 11-20

Bit of a light week, with no Battlestar and Supernatural this time around, but still some interesting stuff out there:

Prison Break, 212: The show’s dragging a little, but it’s still got some momentum. C-Note’s wife is captured, and Mahone finally gets Linc and Michael while Sucre gets away by plane. I wonder if that jet caught up to them? Bellick almost found a love interest. I would have completely believed that if the woman didn’t dig further into his actions in the place. And Michael/Linc’s dad is shot and killed. I thought that was a bit of a waste, but he was an awefully convinent character to have around, but it makes me wonder what they’ll be doing with that storyline now. It was also really good to see Michael really twisting over how everyone’s died thus far and how it’s been his fault. Sara ironed Kellerman, that’s gotta hurt, and it’s good to see that she’ll be around longer.
Heroes, 109: Major fangasm here. This show rocks, and we finally get to the Save the Cheerleader, Save the World thing, and we don’t have to twist over that too much. Peter gets to Texas and finally links up with Claire, and Hiro’s friend is hanging around as well. Claire’s dad is still trying to protect her, and his buddies get Syler, which should prove to be interesting. Nathan’s still an ass, and Nikki’s family are running from her, for good reason. This show is also really seeped in fandom. I could have sworn that I saw a Battlestar Galactica T-Shirt in there somewhere, and the scenes with the Freaks & Geeks was great. And Claire punches the other cheerleader. This show just goes to prove that most cheerleaders are evil. CANNOT wait until next week.
Studio 60, 108: AMAZING episode tonight. They not only knock down Jessica Simpson (A gag about her wishing for peace in the MidWEST) and FOX, about a show that’ll likely get cancelled, but they also go into NBC’s recently announced budget cuts, which makes me wonder if they’ve written it in, or if that’s just a coincidence. Matt and Danny fire a couple writers, and discuss product placement, which was a fantastic storyline, with some great points brought up. Harriet’s storyline about a photospread was also pretty interesting. Next week should be interesting.
3lbs, 101: The pilot for this new show came online at iTunes for free, so I checked it out. Basically, House MD – Lite. It’s about two brain surgeons with conflicting personalities, and yep, one of them is dark and brooding and has some injury, as seen in his own brain scans that he doesn’t want anyone to know about. Looks slick, but there’s way to many similatities between this and House, that I’ll pass on it.
Veronica Mars, 308: Great episode tonight! Veronica’s paranoid after being drugged, and does some searching for the granddaughter of the founder of Herst College when she goes missing – right before a vote on the fate of the Fraternities on campus. In addition, Chip (Who was seen earlier in Season 2 Rapes of Graf and 301), who’s had his own head shaved and it’s turning out that a number of the rapes were faked in revenge for something that happened a couple years ago. Wallace was back in his helpful role, which was nice to see, and Veronica’s and Logan’s relationship is in the rocks. Lamb was dumped on again, and his scene when Veronica was pretending to be a newscaster was just brilliant. Next week ends the rape storyline, and starts the next mystery, a murder. Can’t wait.
House MD, 308: Good episode tonight. The cop wasn’t around, but people’re certainly being affected by his actions, mainly Wilson, who can bearly perform his job. He and House are at odds with each other now, which I’m guessing will have some lasting repercussions. In the meantime, a kid is brought in with a huge number of things wrong with him, lots of infections and various other problems that just won’t go away. Boo to Fox for the previews for this episode, really bad. House had some great moments, like when he swapped out canes with the other guy, and a couple of other random moments. This episode didn’t really stand out, but it was interesting.
Daybreak, 103: Wow, I’m really enjoying and surprised by this show, it’s really something. Hopper is still reliving the same day, which makes this easy because the plot’s essentially the same. Here, he’s getting used to it a bit more, adapting, and trying to get to the bottom of things. He manages to save the girl again, twice, once by stopping her with some questions and the other time by calling her, and preventing her from getting hit by the bus. He also finds that one of his partners is messed up with the guys who are following him in the black cars, and that he’s also helping him out with the secret case that he’s coming up with, and that Garza sent him the package and hourglass. It’s complicated, but I can’t wait to see what happens next. Great songs being used here, which makes me happy, and it’s looking like this is a sort of 13 episode miniseries, which is fantastic. No open ended story – nice ending, etc. If you haven’t checked this out, you can watch both episodes through ABC.com, where the first three are up.
Jericho, 109: Decent episode this week. The town has food, medical supplies, a generator and some other things like that dropped on it, with Chinese writing on the side, in Russian planes and with American tracking devices on them. What the hell? If they were to focus on this sort of thing more, this would be a helluva show. Instead, we have to worry about Eric’s cheating on his wife, a bunch of other relationships and other things like that. Not all that interesting, which is a little irritating. Shop keeper was stabbed though, so I guess that’s one irritating character down, another to go, although we haven’t seen much of bitchy!girl lately. That’s a good thing.
Supernatural: Rerun this week.
Battlestar Galactica: Returning next week.

TV Recap – November 13

This week’s episodes:

Studio 60, 107: Wow, this was a fantastic episode. I love the guy who played the Judge, and how he didn’t take any crap from the suits. Very good performance. And they made fun of Ann Coulter! That was one of the many highlights of the episode. (I hate that bitch). Harriet and Matt tangled up with the religion and anti-homosexuality arguments, bringing out some really heavy hitting things, and exposing some of the flaws that a lot of anti-gay marriage supporters throw out there. (“How does it matter to you if you’re married and the couple two doors down also happen to be gay and married?”) Harriet, and the religious right didn’t have an answer to that. Not to say that this is a purely leftist show, it’s not. They poked some fun at democrats with Matt sputtering about them at some point. I’m loving how political and accurate this show is. Tom got out of jail because of finally explaining why he was going a 125 mph which landed him there in the first place, and even Jack stood up for the group. That was a pleasant surprise. Can’t wait for next week’s episode. And holy crap! The girl who plays Harriet was in Serenity. Whoa.
Prison Break, 211: More company stuff, Linc and Michael are reunited, and we learned what Michael needed the nitro for, which was interesting. Mahone is still on their trail, and from the looks of it, he’s always just a little behind. We see the tattoo CGI magic again, turning into what the letters/numbers mean and then transpose onto something real, something that we haven’t really seen a whole lot of since the first season. T-Bag’s down a hand again, which was coming too him. Hope that it hurt. Plus, Sara’s getting tortured. By the looks of it, she might bite it this coming episode, although I’m suspecting that’s not gonna happen.
The one concern that I have is how fragmented the series is coming, between two storylines, the actual escape and the government conspiracy story, with the two of them running together, but not really interacting. It’ll be interesting to see how they’ll eventually work together, if that happens at all.
Heroes, 108: Whoo, another interesting episode – Some clues about why everyone’s getting the powers that they have, that there might be some sort of connection. We see Sylar in action, which was kind interesting, and saddening to see the waitress with the perfect memory die. But it does open some very interesting points up for the next episode. More with Greg Grunberg’s scenes, hopefully he’ll meet up with the rest of the group later. Where was Nikki and Peter this episode? They were curiously absent, although hopefully they’ll be around next week. Next week’s episode looks to be a lot of things happening all at once, with everybody converging on Claire. That’ll be cool.
Veronica Mars, 307: This was a good episode, but where’s Weevil, Wallace and Tina? Veronica helps out a girl who’s boyfriend goes missing in this ep, usual chasing leads around, she gets an application to work for the FBI, and has some issues with her father and Logan. It was cool to see the Fitzpatricks again, and Vinny, who hasn’t been seen much of at all. Plus, Lamb’s getting to be a likable character now. That’s a surprise.
The ending was the big shocker – Veronica was drugged and almost assaulted, before Logan finds her. That was a scare. I’m getting a little annoyed at how fragmented the cast is – Wallace was nowhere to be seen this episode.
House, MD, 307: Wow, this was a troubling episode. House is in with a vegatative patient, when his son comes down with an illness. To get information, House revives the patient,, who’s been under for ten years. Happy about his newfound wakefullness, he gets House and Wilson to go to Atlantic City for a sandwich, all the while House is asking him questions. They find one thing that might be the cause of the son’s illness, but that didn’t pan out, until the son developes heart problems. The father commits suicide, in order to give his son his heart, after Cuddy had told them that they can’t kill him for it.
This was a troubling episode, but it didn’t feel like it. It was a House and Wilson episode, something that really hasn’t been around for a little while, and seeing the two of them work together was pretty good. Plus, there were a couple of great Houseisms “I guess you wouldn’t have heard that the latest Star Wars movies were dissapointing”. Even the coma guy (sorry, vegatative guy) had a couple. “What’s this? It says ih Pod.” And the cop’s back, hounding the team and freezing Wilson’s bank accounts. Good episode.
Daybreak, 101/102: A cop, Brett Hopper, is havin the worst day of his life, and he’s repeating it every time he goes to sleep, waking up again the same morning. He’s having a bad day because he’s been framed for killing an assistant DA. Adam Baldwin (Jayne from Firefly) is in this, so it’s good to see another Firefly alum working in a show as well as Mitch Peggli, from Stargate Atlantis. Plus, it’s looking like they’ve really done some work on the cinematography here, with some stunning imagry. Hopper has to find out why he’s being framed, who’s behind it and trying to save those closest to him in the process. It appears to be ABC’s version of 24, mixed with some Prison Break and a couple other random shows. I like it, and will definently tune in next week.
Jericho, 108: Give me a break, please. After I was hoping that we’d have a good run of episodes after last week’s, we’re back to the usual drugery of characters making stupid decisions and pointless arguing. The Raven Wood unit advances on the town and the argument is whether to blow the bridge or not. The mayor argues that they’d be cut off if they blew it up. What? Are they on an island? I’m sure if they went down and around a bit, they’d find another bridge or place to cross. I’m also not buying the Ravenwood guys backing down from an additional three people showing up with guns behind them. The entire storyline with the girl having visions of her fiancee and wedding day was equally pointless. Next week’s looks better, as it appears that the Chinese will be dropping things on the town, and someone’s gonna die.
Supernatural, 208: More deals with Demons. Dean and Sam investigate a rash of people dropping dead after seemingly going crazy, and after all of them having ten productive years. Turns out they’d all made deals with various demons, and the brothers go off to try and save at least one of them. This felt like one of the more arcy episodes dealing with the Demon and their Father, as Dean was tempted to trade his life away to bring John Winchester back. He also found a really fun way to trap a demon. They seem to like trapping them this season. There wasn’t as much research or any of the very typical elements of the show in this episode, but it stood up nicely. It was a good episode though. The reference to the Musician was also paticularly cool. They’re really pulling out the real world references this time around. Check out the guy’s music, it’s really quite something.
Battlestar Galactica, 209: Wow, this was a heavy episode, as it might as well have been entitled guilt. The episode opens with Adama’s speech way back in the miniseries, about not being able to hide what you’ve done. Back in the present, the fleet comes across a surprise, Bulldog, a pilot thought dead, having recently stolen a Raider and escaped captivity on a Basestar over the past three years. He’d been shot down during a Black Ops mission into Cylon Space, violating the treaty, and in Adama’s mind, starting the entire mess that they were in. The worse thing is is that Adama himself ordered Bulldog to be shot down to avoid detection. When he learns this, Bulldog flips, and tries to kill Adama before Tigh stops him, having been warned by Kara.
This was a really well done character driven episode, really looking into the character of Adama. We can just see his guilt at this, especially when he learns that Bulldog is alive. It’s also nice to see Adama and Tigh back on good terms, although Tigh was a bit of an ass throughout the episode. Kara also seems to be back to her normal self, which is nice, and Roslin was paticularly good as well.
Who was also interesting to watch was Bulldog, from the brilliant introduction that they started with, and with Carl Lumbly’s performance. It was outstanding to see him, and I’ve been a fan of his since I’ve seen him in Alias, as Marcus Dixon.
The idea that Adama was the cause of the war is something that’s really dark, and something that I’m hoping that they might bring up again, although I suspect that this will be one of the more standalonish episodes, but hopefully, Bulldog will be back as a recurring character.

TV Recap – November 6th

An interesting week of programs:

Studio 60, 106: This episode started off kinda slow, but then grew to another really good one. Tom, one of the actors on the show, was arrested after defending Harriet after being confronted by a pair of gays who were offended by her views. The episode starts with Tom (dressed as Jesus Christ), Simon, Cal, Jack and two Chinese visitors in a backwater Sheriff’s office, waiting for a judge. The episode goes back to flashbacks, and involves Jesus being made the head of the NBS (or a portion of it) and the sketch for the week would have been part of that. The Judge doesn’t like the show, and they are on a very limited time limit before Tom’s due back on the show. It was a fun episode. Not my favourite, but next week’s (this is a two parter) is looking funny.
In other good news, the show’s been picked up for a full 22 episodes!
Prison Break, 210: I’m starting to get a little nervous with some of the directions that the show’s taking. Lincoln and LJ were captured, but freed by Linc’s dad, and we enter back into the Company territory again, which is the part that could drag this down a little. Michael and Sara meet up, talk, and are tracked down by Mahone, and after a brief cat and mouse stalking match, Michael traps Agent Mahone in a cage with a propane line open, preventing the agent from shooting him. Sara walks out on Michael, only to be caught by Kellerman. It’ll be interesing where that story leads, although the convinience of Linc’s father coming and rescuing them is a little suspect. Plus, seeing T-Bag get beaten up more is even better, because the punk had it coming. Who’s going to bet that he’ll rip off his hand getting out before the police arrive?
Heroes, 107: I love this show, and I’m loving that they’re starting to get some of the main characters together, more so than before. Greg Grunburg’s character is still fairly isolated, but hopefully, they’ll be bringing him into the fold soon. Peter’s brother is a dick, and annoying me. I bet he’ll become a villian, and Scyler is proving to be an interesting plot point, although I hope that they show him soon. The fact that there’s a number of other people out there with powers is interesting, and I’m excited to see who else they will eventually show. This show rocks, hardcore.
Veronica Mars, 306: Okay, this was a fun episode, but not as good as last week’s episode. Plagerism is the theme of this week’s episode – Remember what happened to Wallace last week? Well, that’s more of a central focus, and resolved – Wallace is still in class, but buckling down and drawing out of sports. Veronica is accused of cheating on a paper of her’s, which leads her around to find some interesting things about a professor, and gets to be buddy/buddy with the Dean, who seems to have chilled a bit for this week. Lamb has a surprising appearance when Veronica goes to him with some information, although his reaction to Veronica is hilarious, as usual. Her father was hit by a car! I thought that they’d seriously hurt him, but looks like he got really lucky, twice. And finally, Piz has a more central role, and Veronica makes some headway on the rape case. So, fun, good episode. Hopefully they’ll give this the full season order again. EDIT: As of Friday, the CW has given an order for three additional episodes, which is a step in the right direction.
House, MD, 306: House is still in hot water, and they have a 500 lbs patient who claims that his recent coma wasn’t due to his weight. I liked him, finally, a patient with some brains and really rationalised the fact that he was obese. Cameron is turning into a more interesting character by the episode, more sarcastic. I suspect that House is rubbing off on her a bit. And Chase was being really annoying, but where did he go? He vanished mid episode. David Morse’s character is also annoying, but he’s not wrong about some of the things that he says. That being said, I still don’t like him very much. Next week’s episode should be interesting, but I really wish that FOX would stop with the “In their most controversal/challenging/puzzling case yet.” No shit sherlock- They’re hard cases, that’s why House gets them.
LOST, 306: Gaaah! If there’s anything that LOST is good at, it’s making people jump up and yell at the TV. That was my reaction to this episode, especially at the end. And, NATHAN FILLION aka MALCOM REYNOLDS, from FIREFLY. YAY! No obvious Firefly nods, but it was good to see him again. Kate and Sawyer get it on, and you just know that sex kills on that island. I’m seriously wondering if they have the guts to kill either Kate or Sawyer. I doubt it, but I was seriously thinking that they’d kill off Sawyer this episode. And What was it that Locke paused about? Either that quote means something to him, or he just realised something about the island. And the Others really need to invest in Masterlocks. AND, Holy Cliffhanger Batman! This is going to be a very long 16 weeks.
Jericho, 107: Finally, an episode that’s probably the best since the pilot, if not better. This episode is how the show should be going. The brothers father is still ill, and they have to go to a city that’s about 90 miles away for meds. When they get there, they find that the city’s deserted, and that the hospital has been shot up – by a group of mercenaries. They meet up with a surviving merc, who’s wounded, and a doctor, get the meds, and have to shoot their way out. Meanwhile, back in town, Grey confronts Hawkins about his past, and they find an FBI badge. Somehow, I doubt that Hawkins is in the FBI. Although I thought that part of the story was a little heavy handed.
This episode worked because of several things: The pacing and editing was good, they’re focusing on the world outside the town, and it’s interesting to see that the government is still intact, to some extent, and I think we sorta found out where Jake was for five years (Iraq). I’m thinking that he was also a mercenary. Plus, Bitchy!girl didn’t make an appearance, nor did the store keeper. If they focus on the civil unrest and the actual bombs, that would be better than the interpersonal things in the town.
Supernatural, 207: Wow, this was a fun and pretty creepy episode, and it made some interesting changes. Over the past 30 or so episodes, we’ve seen Sam and Dean break the law a number of times, breaking into places, killing things, the whole nine yards. Now, the law actually catches up to them, and from the episode Skin, there were some repercussions. The brothers are caught after a spirit appears to have killed a couple of people, and they’re implicated. The two cops (I believe that they are alumni of major horror movies) and when the female detective also sees the ghost, she and Sam team up to track the spirit down. Turns out it’s not a vengeful spirit at all, it’s trying to tell them who the real killer is, and it’s the detective’s partner. Nice way to turn that around a couple ways. Light on the classic rock, but the soundtrack took an extremely creepy turn this episode, which was cool. The spirit was also pretty creepy – nice job with the CGI here. I’ll be interested if the events from Skin pop up again somewhere.
Battlestar Galactica, 208: This episode was both good and disapointing at the same time. Good, because it’s a darker episode – Roslin and a majority of the fleet consider genocide as they find out that the Cylons are able to catch and die from the disease. Disapointing, because this could have seriously been a major story arch, but only to have one character effectively kill it – with the cylons that were the carriers – off within the episode. The Galactica had a bunch of Cylons on board, ready to execute them in order to kill off the entire Cylon race. It doesn’t get any darker than that.
The ramifications of this are just as dark- Should the humans completely wipe out the race that’s been attacking them, destroyed their entire race and sent them flying around the stars with little hope for escape? Everyone except Helo I guess. The Cylons should have been killed off and the humans should have done everything in their power to do it, to maintain the fact that they’re still alive. Helo’s arguments were crap – There would have been very few tears shed for the Cylons, and maybe a historian or two to argue about the morality over it. I guess Helo just ‘forgot’ that humanity was almost completely wiped out. The nice thing is that they’re returned to the question that’s been asked a lot earlier in the seasons – How Human are the Cylons? Still unanswered.
The episode did have it’s strong points, and if Helo didn’t kill those Cylons, this may have been the start of one of the best episodes in the series. The team going into the Cylon Basestar was fun to watch, although I’m wondering about the desctuction, and where Athena’s allegences really lie (I suspect that she set off the self destruct on the ship). Lee’s realization with what the course of action should be sent chills down my spine.
And where was Tigh and Starbuck? They really weren’t in this episode at all.

Also, I’ve watched the remaining episodes of Smith, and I’ll try and post a review up shortly.

TV Recap: October 30

Some good episodes this week:

Prison Break, 209: Fantastic episode – Several surprises throughout. Lincoln was captured at the end. I didn’t see that coming at all. Mahone’s secret, the guy he’d been chasing buried in his back yard, which was a very nice tie in to where the guy was mentioned earlier in the season, which really makes Mahone’s character more interesting. C-Note’s bringing his family together was interesting, and finally, T-Bag runs into Bellick and gets knocked around a bit. The bastard finally has something of what’s been coming to him. There was a lot going in this episode, and the next episode should be good. This is definently one of the best shows on TV.
Heroes, 106: This seemed to focus mostly on Nikki, which I was a little worried about. She’s not my favourite character in the group, but this episode made me like her a little more. Her husband comes back, and we learn a bit of their background, and it was also interesting to see insane!Nikki and Hiro’s paths cross in the poker game. Claire’s father setting up the fake parents was interesting, as was the relevation about her illness as a kid. Peter and the Painter was interesting, advancing the story a little bit. And where’s Greg? I hope that he links up with the group sometime soon. Good episode though, still really loving this show.
Studio 60: This was on haitus this week, which annoyed me. NBC is assuring us that the show’s not going to be cancelled any time soon, but this isn’t the best of moves. I’m really waiting for next episode.
House, 305: I only caught the last half of this episode, but House seems to be back to normal, and he’s been arrested! Yikes. Hopefully, I’ll get more from the recap or find it on Youtube, but it’s good to have the doctor back.
Veronica Mars, 305: I love Veronica. Where last week’s episode was fairly lackluster, this one came back with a bang. Veronica went to find Logan in an illegal gambling room on campus, only to be there when two guys, dressed up in masks and fake guns stormed in, stole all the money and Veronica’s necklace – A gift from Lilly. Much of the episode is spent on solving that case, but there’s a little progression made with the rape case, as Veronica identifies the guy in the ATM photo, and on Keith Mar’s side of things, he helps the Dean of Herst College find a former husband of his wife’s, only to get tangled in a bit of a mess there. Couple of really funny things, Veronica using Weevil as a presentation in her class. “He said we could use audio/visual components. He’s audio, ‘Yo!’ and visual.” Lamb was pretty funny this episode, as was the interactions between everyone and himself.
The only weird thing was with Wallace. He’s clearly having trouble in class, but the entire storyline just didn’t fit with the rest of the episode. It was good to see a lot of the regular cast though, although Piz is still nowhere to be seen, and Logan had a pretty small role. Great episode though.
LOST, 305: Finally! A couple answers – we learn why Jack (At least sorta, kinda) was brought to the Other’s place, to treat Ben, but that there’s factions within the group. I’ll be interested to learn more about that in upcoming episodes. Plus, Ecko died, right with a great backstory on him. ‘Tis a shame, but I guess we’ve all sorta seen that coming since he was arrested for some sort of driving charge. It really is a curse. And we get another good look at the smoke monster! It’s back, and it can make a fist and slam people around. Weird and interesting.
Jericho, 107: Well, that sucked. This episode seemed to be “People taking a stand”. They’re still dealing with people being unlawful and hording food and things. Jake tries to deal with the guys, and they sort of come to an arrangement. We learn that NYC wasn’t nuked, and that they stopped the people before hand- We learned that this was the actions of three person teams in trucks, which is interesting. Bitchy!Girl is still here, and with more screentime than ever, which is annoying, as with the shop keeper. Even Hawkins wasn’t that interesting this episode. The dad’s about to die, and from the preview of next week, the brothers are going out to find meds, and run into soldiers, who’ve either gone crazy or someting random like that.
CSI, 705: I don’t usually watch CSI, becuase I find it too formulaic. However, Alan Tyduk was in this episode, as a child sex offender, which was really odd to see. The characters look a bit different from when I last saw the show. Two children went missing, and the CSI team goes out after them. Really creepy episode.
Supernatural, 206: Wow, I think this was one of the best episodes in the season thus far, if not the entire series. A lot of the episodes have followed a lot of plots and taken elements from horror movies, this one is the first that I can recall that takes the camera work to that level. Lots of handheld work, and it really was pretty creepy at times. In this episode, the US’s first Serial Killer, H.H. Holmes, (Who was real – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes) who was killed where there was an apartment building. He’s now gone to kidnapping and killing blonde women in the place. The Brothers are joined by Jo, who went against her mother’s wishes and tagged along, and ends up getting captured herself. They end up tracking the spirit down, but instead of killing it, they trap it in place in a ring of salt. Very cool plan, and the spirit definently didn’t like that. Plus, they made fun of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise.

Sam: What’s in Los Angeles?
Dean: Young girl’s been kidnapped by an evil cult.
Sam: Girl got a name?
Dean: Katie Holmes

Battlestar Galactica, 306: Another fantastic episode – We’ve left behind New Caprica, but there are repercussions. Tigh and Kara are bitter about their experiences, and I suspect that despite the talking to that they got from Adama. Baltar is with the Cylons, and being busy, and Lee lost all that weight that he gained. Finally, Sharon is now Athena, which is an interesting touch for her.
The most interesting part of this episode was the interior workings of the Cylons. There was a lot in this episode, from how the Cylons percieve things, the interiors of the Basestars, the Hybrids, the controls, some more information about the remaining five unknown Cylon models.
Finally, there’s the beacon from Earth, and the fleet seems to be on the way to Earth, and it could prove to be a race. That’s assuming that the Cylons aren’t wiped out by the disease, which is very interesting. Looks like the Humans on Earth are pretty advanced, to some extent. Next episode is looking good.
And did anyone get a Minority Repot vibe with the Hybrids?

TV Recap – October 24th

Decent episodes this week, some dropped shows:

Prison Break, 208: Finally, after a three week break, the convicts are back, and after one helluva cliff hanger, when Sucre held a gun to the remaining convicts and seemed to run off with the money. Seems that he and Michael planned that whole thing, and it would’ve worked until they realized that they didn’t have all the money after all. Sucre ended up getting pinned by a tree for most of the episode, Lincoln actually came up with a good plan to reunite with his plan, Mahone and Kellerman are working together? Man, I didn’t see that coming.
Heroes, 105: This show frickin rocks. The groundwork for the various characters meeting up is placed, with Nathan and Hiro meeting in Las Vegas, Peter and the painter meeting up, and with Hiro telling Peter to tell his younger self something that he finds over the episode. Future!Hiro looks badass. I can’t wait to see what happens next, and man, this show’s going to rock.
Studio 60, 105: This show just gets better and better with the humor, every week, and this episode was amazing. Jordan’s antics trying to find a friend was really funny, another side to her character that we haven’t seen much of yet, Matt and Harriet’s connection is becoming more and more interesting, if a little predictable, and the veteran and alum of the show coming back for his photograph was just brilliant, well acted and scripted.
Veronica Mars, 304: Er. I love Veronica Mars, but this was one of the weaker episodes thus far in Season 3. Two storylines, with Veronica helping prove that one of the suspect fraternities wasn’t behind the rape, and helping Logan find out where some of his money was vanishing to when he finds that his inheritance was running low. Where’s Wallace, Piz and Weevil? The thing that I really liked about the first two seasons was the ensamble cast. While this episode wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t a usual Veronica Mars episode. That being said, the preview for next week looked really good.
LOST, 304: Finally, a bit more of a good episode that a) carries the story forwards a bit more, and b) adds in some more interesting elements, like another island. We learn some more into Sawyer’s past, that he went to prison (did anyone else get a prison break vibe there?) and he was beat up, stabbed with a really big needle and told that he had a pacemaker in his chest (he didn’t really). All this still brings us to the question of: What do the Others want? Hopefully in the next two episodes, we’ll get a litle more.
The Nine, 104: I missed this week’s episode, and I’m not in the mood to deal with ABC’s crappy platform for video. Maybe I’ll get the episode next week, maybe not.
Jericho, 106: I’m still hanging onto this show, because the previews for each week look better than the last, although that’s not always the case. This episode brought everyone to the realization that there’s probably no help coming, and there’s the threat of lawlessness. Jake’s family’s horses were stolen, along with a large portion of the town’s food supply. The farmer getting pissed off about everyone wanting his crops was interesting, and I’ve added the storekeeper to the list of people who I want to see die on the show, along with bitchy!girl, who seems to think that an ATM card = a get out of jail free card. The show’s got potential, but they need to get away from the drama-ey aspects of it. Focus on Hawkins and the fact that the US has been nuked.
Supernatural, 105: Remember last season when they came across a kid like Sam with powers? He turned out to be a murderer, and in this one, they find another kid, who can Obi-Wan someone into doing what they want, and he’s killing people. And he’s connected to the demon. Fun episode tonight, pretty gruesome at times, but there were some great lines. “Dr. Badass.” “…I have an evil twin brother…” and Dean just giving up the Impala to the good brother. Priceless. They’re definently pushing the storyline with the kids with powers, and I’m betting that there’s to be more with them later on.
Six Degrees, 106: I skipped this show. I think that I’m going to drop it from the list – It’s no longer holding my interest and it’s turned out to be a composite of everything that’s good with other shows – similar cast types, good soundtrack, but completely lacking direction and a decent story.
Battlestar Galactica 305: In the first four episodes, we saw that some people collaborated with the Cylons – now we see what happens to them – 13 are spaced, by a special tribunal of six people, grossly violating human rights in and of itself. We also learn that Baltar is on board a Basestar, and it’s interesting to see what they look like from the inside.
The most interesting part was when they kidnapped Gaeta, who worked for Baltar under the occupation. He was almost spaced before he told them that he was the one supplying them with intel. I would have thought that he was going to be killed off, but someone else will get that title. There were some interesting things between the characters – Tigh is pissed off, at Gaeta and, apparently Adama. I want to see something with that in the near future. Starbuck is also a wreck, and it’s looking like there’ll be some problems with her marriage. Overall, good episode. Next week’s looks very good.

Good news! Studio 60 has had three more scripts ordered for it, so it’s not going anywhere just yet – Let’s hope that the studio comes to its senses and orders more scripts.

TV Recap: 8-1

Long list this week. Just so people know, a number of these I see online, Heroes, Jericho, Prison Break, and LOST.

Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip, 103 : This show is getting better and better. It’s brilliant, critical, funny and has such a good staff and writing throughout. The show’s also got a great balance of formula and storyline, building week after week. This week brought in a power outage, as well as focus groups. I really hope that this show’ll do well. It’s got the critical acclaim behind it. Good stuff already, and judging from the first three episodes, we’ve got good things coming. Now, the show has to actually get a following, it’s not doing so well in the ratings. It would be a huge shame to see this one die on us.

Heroes, 102: Another interesting episode, introducing another person with powers, (Agent Weiss!) a cop who can read minds. Where the first episode built up with the characters, this one expounded on that with more character development and began what looks like a story arc involving a nuclear bomb detonating in New York City. I imagine that next episode will be bringing more of the characters together. It’s an interesting concept thus far, and I wonder how they’re going to be bringing everything and everyone together. It’s very comic bookish, which probably means villians and the like.

Smith, 103: Another really fun episode. The show’s getting a little scattered, with a number of random plots, characters having some problems of their own while the team robs an armoured truck. To do so, they had to break onto an Army base and steal a .50 caliber machine gun. Using kittens. That was funny. The heist was really fun to watch, while they pulled everything together and stole the truck. I think the best parts of the heists are the planning and carrying out everything, and this show’s delivering it. Unfortunently, that’s it, because the show’s been cancelled.

The Nine, 101: A lot of critics have been talking about this show with very good things being said about it. The show starts off with nine or so people having a typical start to the day, and all of their paths cross at a bank. While there, two men come in with guns, knock out a guard and tell everyone that it will be over in five minutes. Commercial break and we see press talking about the recent standoff with police that’s lasted 52 hours. The guard apparently died, another hostage aparently got out, another was shot through the chest and later dies, and there’s the sense that there’s a lot of things that have happened behind the doors, such as some problems with the plan to get people out, leading to one character punching out the hostage neigotiator. The characters all seem to share a bond now, and with random flashbacks from what happened in there. It’s a good concept, and definently a promising one.

Prison Break, 205 – 207: The guys have broken out and are on their way to Utah over the past three episodes, after Westmoorland’s money, which is now under a house in what used to be a ranch. The various characters all come to Utah through various ways, and they begin fighting over the scraps. Two more characters die, Tweener and the Governor, and more into the FBI agent’s drug habits are seen.
The show’s going strong, I’m really interested in what’ll happen next with the standoff between Sucre and the rest of everyone, as well as what Lincoln will be up to, as well as where they’re going with the rest of the government conspiracy thing.

Jericho, 103: Interesting episode, after the rain has fallen, and the people have the chance to see what happened. It’s pretty clear that the US was attacked, but by whom, that’s the question, especially with Tanks running around. And what does that former cop know that he’s not sharing? The show’s starting to grow on me, mainly because it’s got a lot of tale ends…

LOST, 301: Whoa. The Others have a town on the island, occupying a former DHARMA Inititive site, have everyone held captive for some weird reason, and what’s going on? It’s interesting, but yeah, not a whole lot of reference points here. I guess we’ll be finding out in future episodes, but it’s nothing like I expected at all. We did learn where the polar bears came from though.

Supernatural, 202: Nice pickup for the rest of the series following the Winchester’s father’s death. Best words of the series: “Clowns? What the f…?” spoken by a mulletheaded MIT dropout. Yep, this episode had killer clowns, and that was just creepy in and of itself. From all reports, there’s some more characters that’ll be semi-regular throughout the season that appeared in this episode, through a Hunter’s Bar. That was a cool idea. Overall, good episode, and it looks like this season’ll be pretty good.

Six Degrees, 103: I’m still hanging onto this show. Characters are interesting, and there were some relevations into some characters, some motives explained, although not much. It seems directionless, although there’s a couple of plots that are shaping up to collide, such as the murder in the pilot, as well as the Mae’s past. (I’m blanking on some names). I’d be interested to see where some of these things end up. It’s nice to have a sort of mellow show, without lawyers, forensics experts and tons of fantastic happenings. This one just feels down to earth.

Battlestar Galactica, 301/302: Okay, I’m just reminded why Galactica is pretty much my all time favorite show now. Season 3 is beautiful. From the camera work and directorial eye, there are times when this feels like it could be a big budget movie.
Season 3 starts off dark. We see what people have been up to. Tigh is leading an insurgency, Roslin is teaching, Starbuck is being held captive by a Cylon who loves her, and in the fleet, they’re running exercises and getting ready. Adama and Lee are at odds and the Cylons are recruiting humans to do their dirty work.
Man, this is the one show not to miss. I’ll be posting a full review of episodes 301 and 302 tomorrow on the CIC, linked in the sidebar.

Aaaand, the first casualilty of the season has come, with the NBC show Kidnapped being cut. However, the show will continue it’s 13 episode order, and the writers have enough time to end it properly. Other shows, such as The Unit and Heroes have both recieved full season orders. And, as reported yesterday, Smith has also gotten cut.

Internet TV: New Season

Last year, and earlier this year, I posted up a series of essays on television’s increase in quality, as well as the changing role of television programmes and the internet. iTunes has increased it’s number of television shows from just a couple of ABC shows to two-hundred twenty. They’ve also picked up shows such as Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Prison Break, Law and Order, CSI, The Office, and have added a feature called a Season Pass, which will allow you to purchase the entire season ahead of time, all that you have to do is download the episode when it’s put online. In addition to the huge number of shows that have been added online, Apple Corp. has just revamped the iPod and iTunes. The new iPods have a better screen and longer battery life, aimed specifically at being able to watch videos on the devices. They’re not the full screen iPods as had been rumoured, but iTunes has become more visual. CD Cover art is more prominant, and the video quality has gone up. Towards the end of the typical TV seasons earlier this spring, where ABC put several of their shows online free, streaming, with limited ads. FOX and CBS have followed suit with some of their shows thus far. Fox put up four of the first episodes of Prison Break, Vanished, and has followed with a couple of other shows. CBS has placed their new show Smith, CSI: Miami, and the Unit online. I’m sure that several other networks (Please, please, please, CW, put up Supernatural and Veronica Mars online).
So what does this mean? Television is breaking further into the internet. NBC, SciFi, ABC, CW, and CBS have all added online video hubs. These hubs offer a number of different options, ranging from the full episodes of television episodes to behind the scenes and promos for upcoming episodes. I don’t think that it needs to be said, but TV is here on the internet to stay.
There’s a couple of reasons for content being provided online. The technology is here, with broadband connections becoming ever more powerful. I, for the first time, have Cable internet, and as a result, I’ve been watching Prison Break, Battlestar Galactica, and currently, Smith, streaming. It’s a cool thing.
I’m also extremely pleased with it because I can now watch the episode a day or so after it airs, which is very nice because my job will be taking me away from the tube, and for shows with content that relied heavily on the story aspect, it’s nice to have the option to be able to catch up without waiting half the year for a re-run.
There are, with all good thing, some drawbacks. iTunes music files are fairly large, ranging from 396 megabytes to 912 megabytes. These are huge files, and they have the potential to really eat up your hard drive in huge bites. No pun intended. But currently, I’m down to about 7 free gigabytes on my own hard drive. In addition, the streaming shows are just that, streaming. The quality level on the full screen settings are pretty weak, and if your connection is spotty, you’re likely to have trouble.
Security is another drawback. with sites like Youtube, Google Video and Myspace videos gaining in popularity, it’ll be a matter of time before there will be some news about television networks and their programs ending up on these sites. I know that House has made an appearance as a six part upload, as I’m sure that several other shows have done. Warner Brothers has signed a deal with Youtube for their content, while another has condemned the site.
Finally, not all shows are online. Fox, much to my annoyance, hasn’t put up House for download on iTunes, nor streaming. So, if there’s really one show that you have your heart set on, it might be hit or miss whether it’ll be online for viewing or not. Well, there’s always the DVDs, or you know, making sure that you’ll be able to make the TV date.
I generally get around that little problem by watching the episodes while I’m doing other things, like writing, talking with other people, and with it in a small corner of my screen.
Things are likely to improve. Image quality has a little ways to go, but I’m betting that we’ll see some slower progress, as with higher quality episodes, we’ll have bigger megabyte sizes. Bigger sizes mean longer download times and more space taken up on your computer.

Next up: Lost Clones, the TV/Movie Barrier and high quality storylines.

TV Recap

TV Recap of the following week. Good stuff came out, and not all of the major shows have had their openers yet.

Prison Break- Scan : 3rd episode in and everyone’s still on the run, with some of the guys looking like they’re going to be captured. Michael has a bunch of other clues hidden in his tattoo, although they’ve got to be running out of places to hide things. It was good to see that they’re keeping Sara Tencredi and agent Kellerman. Belleck’s also back after being fired and after them. Still no sign of John Abruzzi or the VP, which is odd. The stories are all drifting apart, but I suspect that everyone’s going to be ending up in Utah, looking for the money.

House, M.D.- Meaning : The season opener for Season 3, and it opens up with House… running? Apparently in the days after his gunshot wound, he’s not only been cured of the two shots, but his leg has healed somewhat, enough for him to run. So we have a new, slightly less sarcastic and more caring House, which I don’t suspect will be lasting too long, as the treatment appears to be wearing off a little. Great way to open the season.

Stargate SG-1- Memento Mori : Vala is out on a date (sort of) with Daniel Jackson when she’s kidnapped from the resturaunt. The SGC track her down, only to accidentally wipe her memories when the break into a Trust warehouse where they’re holding here. Vala then goes to work for a resturaunt while trying to flee and learns that she can beat the crap out of thieves and has odd flashbacks. Bourne Identity anyone?

Stargate Atlantis – McKay and Mrs. Miller : McKay has a sister, and she joins up with the team after she has some revelations and a groundbreaking theory that the team needs, looking for a better power supply. Lots of digs at McKay and his nature. As if one of him wasn’t enough, another one from a parallel universe shows up, much to the real McKay’s annoyance, especially since the other one is more likeable.