Chic, IL Must see TV

Heroes seems to be trying hard to avoid JJ Abrams Syndrome, creating an atmosphere of mystery and suspense while still giving the audience solid answers when it makes sense to do so. Last night's "prequel" episode filled in a lot of blanks for several characters, and did it in a way that will probably create even more interest in their futures.

Studio 60 was good this week, even though there was more of the comedy show featured than I'd care to watch. I liked some of the stuff at first, but the more recent "sketches" they've shown have been pretty lame. Sadly, the one sketch I think would've come off as pretty funny (Spit-take Theatre), didn't get any air time. I do like how they continue to develop that Wings guy as a non-villainous antagonist. He's no Alec Baldwin, but he'll do.

-Le Penguin
"Does anyone have two coffee cups?"

 

Just finished this (partial) season of Lost. Though I'll agree with Dartha that the the last season and 1/3rd haven't been as good as the 1st season, it's still a really good show IMHO.

So, looking for something "new" (to us) we watched the first few episodes of "American Dad". I'm a huge fan of Family Guy...but American Dad just doesn't seem to deliver. Granted it gets a few laughs per show, but not enough to warrant blowing a half-hour of valuable viewing time to glean the gems. I'd rather re-watch Family Guy episodes.

Just finished obtaining the current season of Heroes and will start watching it this weekend. We're completely unspoiled except for knowing the genre.

D'

 

just be warned--it is ridden with comic book cliche. i know you're always the first to rip on somethin because it's not "original," even if it's incredibly well-executed, as heroes is.

this weekend, I'm hoping to catch up on heroes, as well as BSG. quick note on tonight's BSG: saw a note at aint it cool that jane espenson, buffy writer extraordinaire and author of NEXT week's BSG, compared following tonight's episode to "following the Beatles." in other words, it sounds REALLY good.

i also have the last half of Serenity on the DVR to finally watch. that is one good movie.

AND the office and 30 rock last night were both great. "a rat king. hope you took a picture with your beeper."

 

[/quote] i know you're always the first to rip on somethin because it's not "original," even if it's incredibly well-executed, as heroes is.[/quote]

Noo noo it's just that I can tell the difference between somethin that's been inspired by previous works vs. somethin that's been ripped off because the "creator" had nothin but a deadline and a budget. Either way, Heroes'll get a fair day in court. I probably don't know enough about superhero comics to recognize their cliches. Most, if not all of my superhero knowledge comes from movies (and listening to discussions between you and Thom).

D'
"You're not Superman you know."

 

When I talk up "Heroes" to friends who haven't seen the show, I'm almost apologetic about it. As Matt said, it's thick with comic book cliches (or rich with them, depending on your point of view), but it's not a show that's concerned with keeping people interested by piling twists and turns on top of each other each week. I'm as big a fan of the "they're the same person!" and "it's HIS wheelchair!" Twilight Zone-esque twists as much as the next guy, but they shouldn't be considered an integral part of good writing. Instead, the vibe of "Heroes" reminds me a lot of the LotR films: what you see is very much what you get, but it's well-written, well-made, and... um, competently-acted.

One weird non-spoiler question that nags at me: why do they subtitle Hiro and Ando's Japanese conversations, yet all the Middle Eastern dialogue is spoken in thick accents? Maybe someone at NBC thinks that Americans are fine with hearing Japanese, but we just won't stand for any filthy Muslim lingo on our tee-vees...

whatever.

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"30 Rock"? Baldwin continues to carry an otherwise so-so sitcom. He's always funny, even when he's just listening to people talk. The rest of the show is still wildly hit-and-miss, full of funny ideas that often seem either dailed-down or too vague. A perfect example is Tracey Morgan: I can't tell if he's pumping up lame writing or deflating good writing.

-Le Penguin
"But first, the whores!"

 

Well, we're 8 episodes into Heroes. It's certainly no "Misfits of Science"...but what is? Despite some crappy acting and some overt predictability it's pretty good. I did pick up on a lot of the cliche's but wasn't offended by them. It does seem to suffer from taking itself a little too seriously in some places, but the Hiro plot-line kind of keeps that tolerable.

Watched the first two episodes of the second season of Extras...so far it's a let down.

Bosh
"The pants command me! DO NOT IGNORE MY VEINS!"

 

Star Trek...the Clone Wars....

Bosh

 

The first few episodes of "24" were leaked to the Internets earlier today. Fox was going to release the first 4 next week after the premiere to get people hyped (or something)....and of course somebody snagged it and put it up.

Anyway....HORRIBLE except for the last five minutes where.....

[SPOILERS BELOW]
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Jack rips this dudes throat out with his teeth Lost Boys style.
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[Spoilers above]

 

Since "Spike TV" has been airing Star Trek: Voyager the past few weeks, I've actually watched some of these episodes and I'm hooked! I never got a chance to watch them when they first came out. But someone spoil me....did they ever make it home? I'm not catching every single episode but I'm curious.

 

While I never followed it to the end, Mark, I'm guessing by having Admiral Janeway give Picard order in "Nemesis", they did.

-Hazmatt
"I've saved the galaxy dozens of times! All you did was get lost!"

 

Jodo,

http://www.tv.com/star-trek-voyager/show/274/episode_listings.html?season=7&tag=nav_bar;7

Scroll down and click on "Endgame" I and II. there's a "read episode recap" link on each page (near the one-line teaser) that'll give you a run-down of how things ended.

And I liked the Doctor's appearance in "First Contact" much better."

-Le Penguin
"I swore to myself I'd never use one of these things."

 

Speaking of Star Trek, Wil Wheaton is recapping episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation at TVSquad.com. It's hilarious. It probably contains some language you couldn't use here.

I never could get into Voyager. I thought the last episode was just about as bad as most of the series.

Phil

 

I deliberately avoided whole "Wil Wheaton online experience" bandwagon when it first popped up a few years ago, as well as the inevitable "anti-Wil Weaton online experience" that quickly followed. I basically never gave the guy much thought, but those TNG retrospectives turned out to be pretty good. Not unlike Roger Ebert's movie reviews, the synopses get more entertaining as the episodes get worse.

Christ, I'd almost forgotten how much the first season of that show sucked.

-Le Penguin
"I'm sensing a lot of boners, commander."

 

I was a proud and oft posting member of the Usenet group "Wil Crusher Must Die" in the late 80's under my (prior to BoshTalk) pseudonym "Hamato Yoshi". I'm sure they're archived somewhere. And though I never jumped on the Wil Wheaton bandwagon, this blog on Geek Hatred sums up the Wil Crusher/Wes Wheaton dilemma pretty well....


Ahhh yes. Young Wes Crusher. Innocent, helpful, smart and kind - all the while having the ability to change water into chili sauce as a prank. Plus he has a mole?in a naughty spot.

Everyone in the world just wanted to set their phaser to ?Crispy? and chase him through the halls of the enterprise while laughing maniacally. From ?Sensitive guy? sweaters to sappy speeches every time he was left alone with Picard - Wesley Crusher became a geek hate magnet of uncalculatable strength. We watched each and every episode hoping that he?d get the salt sucked out of his body, or would be killed by a lava slug thing?and it never happened.

Wesley deserved our hate.

However?as odd as this sounds?

Wil Wheaton doesn?t.

Yeah yeah, I know what you are thinking. ?HE PLAYED WESLEY AND FOR THAT HE MUST DIE! BRING ME THE HEAD OF ENSIGN CRUSHER!?

And while I usually agree, especially if an actor *is* his character ala Tony Danza, I have to save Wil Wheaton from the pile o?hate that we?ve cultivated over the years.

He?s one of us. He?s a *TRUE GEEK*. He?s a gamer - both table top and video, HE hates Wesley Crusher?and well?

He?s got his own ACTION FIGURE. Do you know what I would do for my OWN action figure? Especially one that is in a genre that I love? Face it. If anyone of us was offered a role in Star Trek, Star Wars, a D&D project or anything Sci-fi channel related were we?d be the ?new? Wesley Crusher, we?d take it.

Problem is, Wil Wheaton *ISN?T* Wesley Crusher?.and while we have to call for the death of one, the other is part of the Geek Collective, and his crimes while great - are excusable.

Plus? He?s got his own action figure. Have I mentioned that?



Hamato Yoshi

 

-It's been a long time coming, but I finally got around to buying/watching Band of Brother's (way to go slow time at work!). I really enjoyed this series! I knew I would being a military r-tard and all...the documentary in the beginning of the episodes with the surviving members of Easy Company is just awesome. The documentary at the end w/ those members is great as well.

-House continues to be great IMHO. Now I have to wait 3 weeks cuz of that stupid American Idol poop!

-I'm really starting to miss BSG!

-"Are you on the list?"


TOTALLY FORGOT! -Smallville tonight!! I can't wait to see what Lex does to Clark by season's end!

 

I miss BSG too. Only a couple weeks to go though.

I have Smallville set on the DVR. I love that show in HD. Oddly the CW has a better quality HD feed than the big networks. What up with that?

Speaking of HD, BSG needs to be broadcast in HD. It just plain needs it. I hear there are some major events in the coming months that will change the course of the show. And again, the season finale will be a cliffhanger(duh!).

 

For anyone who's a big fan of Borat and comedy of that nature, I highly, highly recommend John Safran Vs.God. It's an 8 episode Aussie TV series where the host travels the world to experience religions of every nature (Buddhism, Mormonism, Voodoo, Odin Worship, Exorcism, Islam, Catholicism ad more. It's full of Borat-style hilarious and uncomfortable moments.

Excerpt:

"Now, you've probably noticed that I spend a fair bit of time in America filming the show. And while I like Americans, every Australian I know ridicules them. Apparently Americans are really stupid, culturally insular, and have no concept of the world outside their own borders. Unlike... you. Point to Zaire on this map. Go on, you smug ****, show me where it is. I'll give you 10 seconds. Come, on, you're not a dumb American, come on! If you couldn't point to Zaire, you're an idiot. If you *could* point to Zaire, you're an idiot too. Zaire changed its name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997, the place where more than three million people have died in a civil war since 1998. And I hope you didn't point to the Republic of the Congo. You do know that the Republic of the Congo is totally different country to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. My point being - whilst you were chuckling about how dumb Americans are and ****ing off to your copy of "Stupid White Men," three million people died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and you didn't even notice. Until next time, go to hell.

Bosh
"Until next time, go to hell. "

 

For those BSG fans out there I just saw this on comicbookresources.com. I don't watch BSG but this is just another reason to hate the Sci-Fi channel. I hope they make the right decision this time.

The following week, Robert talks in depth with Mark Verheiden, producer on "Battlestar: Galactica" for SciFi and writer of "Superman/Batman" for DC Comics. "Battlestar: Galactica" begins the second half of its third season this Sunday. Ratings for the first half of the third season were down compared to previous seasons and word began to spread this week that SciFi had not yet made a decision about renewing the show. In speaking with Robert, Verheiden addressed the situation when asked if the show was indeed cancelled.


Mark Verheiden: We just finished working out this story for this "Battlestar" movie we've been talking about. "Battlestar" hasn't been picked up yet, and none of us are sure what is going on.

Robert Taylor: Oh dear, you aren't going to leave us with a big cliffhanger like the Cylons taking over a planet again, are you?

Mark Verheiden: Well, if it were to end now, there are going to be a lot of unhappy fans.

 

What a dumbass.

 

In his latest ST:TNG summary, Wil Wheaton attains heroic status with this gem:

"Yes, it's all very spooky and mysterious. We get it. Hey, as long as you're taking your time and not moving the story forward at all, why not have a pod race?"

 

What was that in reference to? Heroes? I know that show surely is not moving forward or backward.

 

Agreed...it certainly didn't move, but it didn't suck horribly either (except for every moment that Ali Larter attempted to act.)

EDIT: Oh yeah...and I watched the 14 minute Heroes preview to get all hyped up about Monday's episode where it explains each of the Hero's powers....what the hell kind of power is "Good & Evil"? Is that a super-power? They really need to kill her character off...goes nowhere, does nothing. Split-personality and ninja-skills are impressive until you put them up against every other character in the show.

D'

 

Last weekend, I finally caught up with Battlestar Galactica. And doing some searching on the Internet, I've discoverd the Cylons' secret weapon: BUBBLES!

Phil

 

Was anyone else underwhelmed by the latest BSG episode?

 

I like the song; it makes bubles and cylons sound so good and happy.