Alcatraz! & Touch

January 26th, 2012 | by | 24, alcatraz, fox, lost, new shows, season premiere, series premiere, touch, tv shows

Jan
26

My DVR most likely hates me. It does its duty, and does it well, but I just keep adding more and more shows to it. I wouldn’t be surprized if it slides itself off the television one night and strangles me in my sleep.

 

JJ Abrams can do just about anything and I will tune in with fangirly glee. I am that easy. I do, however, have the sense to expect a big pile of crap along with my glee. No point in having wild expectations, only to have them dashed against The Rock.

Three episodes of Alcatraz have aired so far, and I am finding it pretty entertaining. We have a secret lair (which is mighty inconvenient with all that water surrounding it, if you ask me), some kind of selective time traveling, Hurley being the smart one, Sam Neill just being awesome by being Sam Neill, and for all of you out there who miss Lost, some potential numbers shenanigans. Personally, I don’t think the numbers mean anything this go around, but I thought Fringe was just gonna be a X-Files rehash, so what do I know?

Looks as though each episode will be the appearance of one of the inmates , and our heroes tracking them down. The first two reappeared inmates seemed to have some sort of directive to get something done. Sylvane got a big-ass key from some poor guy, and Cobb shot whatsherface (what? I don’t know names yet!) totally on purpose. This last guy, while insanely CREE-PEE, didn’t seem to have a job to do, and he ended up dead, dead, dead. I wonder how many people thought, like I did, that when they brought that dead guy back to NewAlcatraz, and handed him over to the apparently perpetual Alcatraz doc, that there would be a shot to the neck or something, and the guy would be brought back to life. Anyone? Just me?

Much like Fringe in its early days, Alcatraz seems to be only okay with the MOW stories, but really interesting with the set up of its mythology. I love this kind of storytelling, and I hope that the audience has the patience for us to get to know these characters and find out what the hell is going on.

 

I love New York City. I lived in Brooklyn for 12 years and I miss the damn place on a regular basis.

I adore Kiefer. I own all eight seasons of 24 (including the TV movie, ‘Redemption’). I even sorta, kind of stalked the man not once, but twice on the streets of NYC.

So Fox, a network I keep wanting to hate, handed me me a shiny new show that not only takes place in my beloved city, but stars a lovely and awesome (as usual) Kiefer. Touch.

Now this show made me nervous. I want to laud anything Kiefer is in, but this sucker is from Tim Kring who gave us Heroes, which started out as a fantastic show, and devolved into one hot mess.  The man has great ideas, but seems to have trouble following through.

As far as I’m concerned, so far so good. Was the twisty, turny-ness a little convoluted? Yup. Do I care? Nope. Give me something fantastical to believe in and I will happily jump on board. I was worried that this was gonna be an hour of SadDadKiefer, but there were some nice, light moments, and Kiefer had plenty of edge to keep the character from falling over into self-indulgent woes-is-me’s. And the moment at the end, in the rain, on the cel tower? I teared right up. Well played, sirs!

I liked Touch, and am excited to see if they can pull this off week to week. Unfortunately, we’re gonna have to wait until March(!!) to get our next taste. But you know me, I will sit patiently for another dose of Kiefer-ness.

 

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Hawaii Five-0: The New Wave (Guest blog)

September 22nd, 2010 | by | battlestar galactica, cbs, hawaii five-o, lost, series premiere, tv shows

Sep
22

[Cue the drumbeat. Roll the surfing video. Bring on the horn section!]

The brassiest TV theme song ever returned to CBS Monday night as the network premiered its update of Hawaii Five-O.WAIKIKI - SEPTEMBER 13: Actress Grace Park at Sunset on the Beach at Waikiki Beach for a screening of the highly-anticipated series premiere of the CBS show 'Hawaii 5-0' on September 13, 2010 in Waikiki, Hawaii. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

The original series ran from 1968-1980, which surprises me; I thought it ended much earlier. About all I remember – besides the boffo theme music – is Jack Lord’s hair, boxy cars and the signature tag line: “Book ‘em Danno.” I bet I’m not alone in that – and that CBS is banking on it. I’ll order some DVDs of the original from Netflix in the coming weeks, but for now that theme song leads to a blank canvas for me and, undoubtedly, many other viewers.

The pilot episode began, like a James Bond movie, with an action sequence that offered some plot background for what was to come. It was one of four gunfights in the roughly 44-minute pilot. The action was so fast and loud that I found them hard to follow the first time through. It wasn’t until I watched again on DVR that I was able to recognize exactly what happened and absorb the relevant plot points.

I understand that the writers had to pack a lot of exposition into the premiere episode, so for now I’ll let them slide on some of the logistical leaps of faith – an impromptu swearing-in by phone; Honolulu Police personnel instantly reassigned without any paperwork or institutional resistance; a city detective coming up with the latest high-tech gadgetry requested by his ex-Navy Seal boss.

It’s a lot easier to go with the flow when one is following a likable cast spouting snappy dialogue. The new Hawaii Five-O is off to a good start with that.

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Lost: The additional 12 minutes

August 9th, 2010 | by | lost

Aug
09

After false lead after false lead, I finally found a version of the 12-minute Lost “epilogue” floating around online and I’m very glad I did.

If you want to wait for the official DVD/Blu-Ray version to find out what happened, stop reading now. In other words: SPOILERS AHEAD, DIVERT DIVERT DIVERT!

OK, so if you’re still reading, you either have watched the video or you want to know what’s in it (I won’t link to it here, as I don’t want to contribute to the takedown hunt — plus, for all I know, the version I saw has been taken down anyhow.)

So … were there answers?

Sorta. But enough more was settled that it made me feel even more comfortable with the ending as it was. Except I’d have loved to have seen Lapidus rappelling out of a helicopter or something. Not that it would have had ANYthing to do with ANYthing, but c’mon, that would have been great.

(Note: If you’re as big a Lapidus fan as myself, check out FYeahLapidus.)

OK, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system.

Here’s what I got out of the 12 minutes:
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Revamping the Tyrant

June 29th, 2010 | by | 24, battlestar galactica, canceled, eureka, jack bauer, lost, science fiction, season finale, series finale, supernatural, warehouse 13

Jun
29

You probably noticed the site looks a little different today. I just upgraded to WordPress 3.0 and upgraded my theme and decided I wanted to get away from the old snow in the background I used to have, as it was rather harsh on the eyes anyway. I haven’t decided what background to go with yet, but it made no sense to reinstall that old background.

I’m not fond of this neon orange, so don’t worry – it’s not here to stay. :-)

I’ve been rather lax in updating the blog in the past month, as you’ve likely noticed.

The end of two of my all-time favorite shows – Lost and 24 – left me unsure about what I wanted to blog on next. June is a pretty crappy month for TV anymore and though I love Burn Notice and In Plain Sight, I just don’t have a lot to talk about. I’d gotten so used to the analysis of Lost and Battlestar and the mocking of or cheering on for 24 that I don’t really want to go back to the recap route.

Fortunately, Warehouse 13 and Eureka start up soon, and I think both will provide plenty of fodder for good TVT posts.

Erika is hiding in a corner, crying out of sheer joy that there will be more Jensen Ackles next season. Seriously, though, I didn’t think they could get another decent season out of Supernatural after the apocalypse this season, but that final scene last month convinced me otherwise.

I’m also watching some stuff via Netflix, so I might start blogging about that. And I still have Season 2 of Torchwood to plow through. But I don’t want TVT to become an archival TV blog. Or, wait – that might be kinda cool.

Anyway, as you can see, I’m trying to figure out the direction to go in. I love TV (well, certain TV shows anyhow) and I do enjoy writing about it. I appreciate all the discussions and comments and everything we’ve had here, and they will continue, I promise.

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Lost: I cried for two and a half hours

May 24th, 2010 | by | lost, series finale

May
24

Before I get into the meat of the matter, I have to ask this of the folks out there who didn’t like the finale of Lost last night:

You didn’t like the Battlestar Galactica ending either, did you?

I ask that not to accuse you of just not liking finales to shows you’ve loved. I ask that because in both cases, I believe the ending was absolutely the culmination of everything that came before.

The endings MADE SENSE. Yes, you can nitpick and complain about little things here or there that didn’t make sense. When you’ve unraveled as much string as both of these shows did, it’s hard to get it all back into a neat little ball of yarn.

Not all questions were answered, and in some cases that was infuriating (from both shows).

But, in the end, the show was what it was always about: The people. Love. Fate. Free will. The afterlife.

The only way to tackle last night’s action-packed ending is by bullet points. I’m emotionally exhausted and I still have two hours of 24 to watch tonight, and that promises to be as equally emotionally wrenching. Read full story

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Lost: And now … the end is near …

May 19th, 2010 | by | lost

May
19

We’re down to the last 2.5 hours of one of the best shows in the history of television (1- that’s not hyperbole and 2- even if it were, I’m allowed). If you haven’t watched Tuesday’s ep yet, LEAVE NOW.

So, we had two very distinct sets of stories going on last night and they’re hurtling toward one another, faster and faster, ready to culminate in … what?

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Lost: Across the Sea

May 12th, 2010 | by | lost

May
12

Didn’t watch? Get the frak outta here!

OK, so this episode answered soooooo many questions, even as it raised others. The biggest question it answered (and theory it put to rest) was the identity of the island’s “Adam and Eve” – Jacob’s adoptive mother and his brother, the actual MiB.

Loved that it flashed back to that scene from Season 1 where Jack and Kate found the skeletons in the caves and Locked dubbed them Adam and Eve, reminding anyone who may not be keeping detailed notes about the show (all five of you). The “Rose and Bernard are Adam and Eve” theory was shot to hell there. (Also, nice foreshadowing of Flocke; he was still the Locke we knew and loved at that point.)

No time warp, no one we knew – but extremely important to the history of the island.

By the way, remember when Locke was dragged into the ground by Smokey in Season 1 or 2, but was dragged back out and said he’d seen the heart of the island and it was beautiful? Yeah, he was doomed all the way back then.

Here’s what we learned and questions I have:

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Lost: The pieces are falling into place

April 23rd, 2010 | by | lost

Apr
23

I had a sudden moment watching Lost tonight (first chance I had to sit down and watch!) that made a whole heckuva lot of things make so much more sense.

(Insert usual spoiler alert, blah blah blah.)

The cabin that Ben used to visit Jacob at wasn’t Jacob’s cabin at all. Jacob had trapped Smokey there.

Before I continue, I want to say two things:

1) Bear with me; I know that there are some inconsistencies with this, as we saw Smokey around the island anyhow in this time. But I may have the answer to that. Or, at least, a partial answer.

2) I am just not that smart sometimes. This theory is more than likely all over all the message boards and blogs already, but I haven’t been reading the lately because I really have been trying to absorb Lost myself this season. So apologies if my epiphany is a bunch of, “Really? You just recognized that?” I may very well be pathetically slow to pick up on certain things.

OK, so: Why Jacob’s Cabin was really Smokey’s Cabin, by Amy Vernon:

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Lost: The one that made Amy cry

April 14th, 2010 | by | lost

Apr
14

I was always pissed off that Libby was killed. I really liked her character; thought she had a lot of depth. Nevermind that Hurley so totally deserved to have some love in his life, too.

But we’ve always had hints that Libby was more important to the overall storyline than her one-season stint implied.

She was in Hurley’s looney bin, though we never knew why. And Hurley never realized she was there, either. And she (or her doppelganger) gave Desmond the boat that got him to the island – we’ve never really found out what that was about.

But Libby is an important piece of the puzzle, which should have been obvious from our Desmond-centric (PENNNAAAHHH!) episode last week.

Love is the key, sorta, somehow. And she and Hurley were, indeed, soulmates. They were in love. And her kiss brought Hurley’s memories flooding back. And made me cry. Don’t tell me it didn’t make you cry, too, because if you say you didn’t, you’re lying. Or you have no soul. Your choice.

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Lost: PENNNAAAHHHHHH!

April 7th, 2010 | by | lost

Apr
07

Let me start off by saying that if Team Darlton does NOT end Lost with Desmond and Penny together, I will riot. I will grab a folding chair and smash it through something and encourage everyone around me to do the same.

Just sayin’.

I’ve said that from the start of this season, particularly after seeing Des on the plane next to Jack and no Penny in sight and Penny being on Flash Forward and all. But last night gave me hope that Lindelof & Cuse may have recognized that they could wrap up the show in almost any way they want, but DON’T FRAK WITH DESMOND AND PENNY.

So what more could a girl have possibly wanted than last night’s episode? I didn’t think it would be possible for this show to get better, but it did. As the Bad Robot sig came on the screen, I put my hand to my chest and said, simply, “That was SO good.”

And because this episode was about Desmond, everything began bleeding together and I don’t even have to separate the off-island and on-island action.

An interesting thing I noticed last night, though, was that although I knew – just knew – that Desmond’s boss would be Widmore, Widmore’s wife would be Eloise and their son would be Faraday, it didn’t spoil a thing for me. One of the things I’ve always loved about Lost is that I’ve been almost incapable of guessing who someone was before they showed the person. They’re just that good.

But given that it was Desmond, it made perfect sense that he’d be working for Widmore. And Eloise and Daniel were, after all, his actual wife and son, so those were not much of a stretch.

So what did we learn last night? So very much.

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