Rocket Ramblings

WHAT I'M WATCHING

Since the writer's strike is just about done, I thought I'd take a quick look at what I have been (and will be) watching once everything is back to normal. In many cases I caught this stuff on DVD after the fact.

This is in no particular order... I'm just pretty much covering them as they occur to me. In the past I ahev HATED television. I watched one, maybe TWO shows a year (if that). These days? I'm a junkie. God I need help.

JERICHO: I had every intention of trying out this show last year but missed the first two episodes and I decided to wait. I'm only glad I wanted for one reason: watching this on DVD meant I didn't have to wait weeks to know what happened. What a great show. The writing and acting is top notch. Tonight is the season 2 premere and I now have the most prized possession we currently own: a DVR recorder. Last season ended on quite the cliffhanger. Just simple words defined the end of last season. Those words were "Nuts" and "NOW!". We have to see how Jake is going to handle becoming the main man here, although I suspect he'll have some detracters to deal with in the town.

LOST: Anyone who knows me knows that this sort of show is perfect for me. Mystery, a million questions, virial marketing, endless speculation, a tie to the occult, a secret organization... all stuff that fuels my twisted obession-filled nature. So far only two episodes into this season and this are hopping already. I like the direction things are going in and the flash forwards (although there weren't any in the 2nd episode) look to be quite effective. People want their answers but I'm still not pushing for everything to be revealed just yet. I'm enjoying the mystery.

DAMAGES: This looked mildly interesting to me when the promos for it came out, but I didn;t have the time to catch it while the first season was runnning. I recently came out on DVD and decided to check it out (thank GOD for Netflix). Well... this show just blew me away. Glen Close plays a lead character that sits right up there with Vic Mackey as a lead with... shall we say... 'flexable' morals who will do anything... ANYTHING... to achieve their means. Close plays Patti Hughes in a way that makes you think you understand her and even manage to root for her in ways when she shows she is human... but still managed to shock us all in the season finale. I also have neverseen a drama about a law firm where we never (NEVER) see the inside of a court room. This one is hard to classify. Just... check it out if you haven't done so. Powerful stuff and more twists and turns and hidden reveals than an M. Night Shyamalan flick. This show clinched one thing for me: F/X has the BEST shows on TV.

PRISON BREAK: I had finally caught up with Prison Break (a show I fell behind on with only a few episodes left in season 1) just as this season started. As improbable as the premise is, and as much as everyone around me tells me the acting is terrible I cannot get enough of this show. It's fun and crazy and just impossible to predict. The situations and the solutions are sometimes so preposterious that saying it's a stretch is being kind but I don't care. While this doesn't live up to the mystery of LOST, the acting of JERICHO or the power of DAMAGES, it's still a plain cool ride.

NIP/TUCK: Ok... this one is a bit of a cheat because I have only seen the first episode of this season. The rest are all saved on the DVR for when I have some time to catch up. This is always been a show I catch up to after the season is over and this season will be no exception. Like Prison Break, this show is just... well... UP THERE. It's crazy and soap opera-ish and at times you want to shout "Oh, C'mon!" at the screeen, but it's fun and mindless and is eye candy that also delivers some nice twists. The tale of these two best friends (who should have killed each other years ago in my opinion) and partners in a plastic surgery practice is impossible to look away from. Even as you are admiring the view, you're almost embrassed for the characters and the situations they find themselves in, but as with Prison Break.. I don't care.

GREY'S ANATOMY: Now this is the first of my two dirty little guilty pleasures. Even more soap-opera-ish than NIP/TUCK is, this show just screams "EMO!" and "DRAMA!" The fact that everyone in this hospital seems to sleep with someone else from the hospital is actually probablly more realistic than people think. The bad decisions in their personal lives being made on a daily basis by people who make the decisions and actions that save lives everyday is quite an ironic contrast. I was dragged into watching this show... kicking and screaming in fact... it was ALL my wife's fault. She watched it and I would catch a few minutes of it here and there and one night I saw some of the "Bomb" episode from season Two and DAMN I was curious in what happened. So Chrissy talked me into renting the first disk of season one on DVD and I hate to admit it but I was hooked. Oh who am I kidding? It's not her... it's ME! This is just a plain, out and out fun show that I cannot help but enjoy. God, I hate to admit that. And what the HELL is up with Meredith? McDreamy is the PERFECT man! Handsome, smart, funny, honorable, caring, in touch with his emotions... god DAMN I'm not into men and *I'D* marry him! SIGH. See? See what this show does? Argh.

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES: The other dirty little guilty pleasure. This show is just... mindless. The situations are insane. The storylines are inane. The characters all need a good beating. But jeez... I'm hooked! I think I need to see a Doctor. Hey, do you think Dr. McDreamy sould tream ... errr... forget that.

24: Yeah, I know it's not going to come back until 2009 due to the strike (and it's a victim of it's own format as much as it is a victim of the strike) and I know last season just got... preposterous. But.. it's JACK FREAKING BAUER DAMMIT! God I have enjoyed this show from day one (heh... day... heh) and I'm not about to stop anytime soon. I thought I might lose interest then they killed just about EVERYONE but Jack and Chole a few seasons back... but I didn't. Fun stuff to the end and never... NEVER... discount the POWER OF JACK!

THE SHIELD: Vic Mackey. Is he a realistic character or an over-the-top twisted version? I think he's a bit of both. Vic is a guy who will do anything... ANYTHING... to protect his family and team... but he also has an actual set of morals to him. He's the perfect anti-hero who we cannot help but root for, but we also have to be reminded that he KILLED A FREAKING COP. I have to tell you... this show is as powerful and well acted as anything I have ever seen on TV. I actually missed the last three episodes of last season (and that was the final straw that lead me to get a DVR) so I have to catch up before next season (which is the final season for the show).

RESCUE ME: I'm an extire season behind (and WILL YOU GUYS HURRY UP WITH THE DVD ALREADY!) but this is another show that is brutal and honest and impossible to look away from. Denis Leary's Tommy is a guy that you want to kill one second and then slap on the back and buy a drink for the next. What this character has gone through on this show is rough... and you'd think it was too over the top to be realistic, but it's not. It always seems... right. As WRONG as it gets, it's still 'right'? Know what I mean?

HEROES: Hey, I'm a comic geek. Is ANYONE surprised I love this show? Yeah it stumbled a little with keeping Hiro in the past too long and the annoying Maya and Alejandro plot seemed like it was never going to end but this season finished with a solid BANG and the revelation that a certain someone has his powers back (along with the death of another certain someone) has setup next season quite nicely. Yeah, like 24 we won't see this until next fasll due to the high production on each episode would make it very hard to get more than like three or four episodes done before the summer, but I wouldn't mind a very short set-up to next year.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Another show I am an entire season behind and waiting for the DVD of Season three has been KILLING ME. Jeez... the frigging DVD for RAZOR (the one shot movie for BG) came out a lousy TWO WEEKS after the movie was on the Sci Fi Network, but it took almost 19 months for the season 3 DVD to come out? In any case, this has been quite the show about how people react to being in a situation where all they do is run, fight and live in tin cans in space with a TON of parinoia. The Cylons aren't just bucket's of bolts here... they can look just like humans and no one knows for certain if the guy or gal next to them is actually an enemy. makes for some very interesting situations. I'm glad this season is about to start in March, but I have to scamble to see season 3 in time since it's being released only a few days before the season 4 premere. Nice.

JOURNEYMAN: God I love time travel. I'm facinated by it. And this show handled it very well. This was a cool show that played the QUANTUM LEAP card quite well, only the whole reasoning behind the main character as a time traveler was still unknown. It looks like this show got the axe, which sucks. Chrissy and I really enjoyed this one. Figures. Hopefully this can get a last second repreave, but I doubt it will.

THE BLACK DONNELLYS: Another show that I had to catch up on with DVD and another show that was excellent but was canned. This was pretty much a cross between STATE OF GRACE (the Sean Penn flick) , THE GODFATHER and THE SOPRANOS. Excellent acting and a fairly riveting storyline drove this show but I can tell you the two reasons it eventually failed. 1 - The title. I understand totally why they called it like they did, but the average person with no knowledge of Irish History would not. It's not really a name that grabs you. 2 - No 'name' actor. They needed someone... someone that the general public would say "wow! I know that guy! He was in that flick... or show... or whatever!" James Caan or Ed Harris would have been perfect. The final episode ended on quite a shocking note and you just know the dial was getting turned up in season 2 had there BEEN a season 2. What a shame. If you missed it, check it out on DVD.

So... what does every show I listed have in common? Think about it for a second.

Give up? NO SITCOMS.

I HATE sitcoms. I can stand to watch an episode of one once and while, but overall? I cannot get into them. The last 'SITCOM' I watched every episode of was POLICE SQUAD back in like 1983.

Which brings me to the comedy section of this. NONE of these are something I would consider a sitcom.

FAMILY GUY: Yeah, I don't really care about the cracks that this show is a formulaic mess. All I know is that I laugh every time I watch it. And over-used or not, Stewie is still hysterical.

SOUTH PARK: Matt Stone and Trey Parker are fearless. The show isn't always a gut-buster, but it's always relevant and funny enough that I come back for more.

ROBOT CHICKEN: Talking toys and fucked up sexual-ladden humor. What more can you ask for? Seth Green is a genius.