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.

 

No Comments »

Mid-Season: Filling The Hole

January 5th, 2011 | by | big love, fox, fringe, nbc, new season, new shows, season premiere, tv shows, v

Jan
05

For years, January was the Best.Month.Ever., television wise. After months of being deprived of my favorite shows, the inevitable post-holiday dreariness, and another two months or more of winter to endure, January brought me back to that mysterious island on Lost, and the high-intensity crack of 24. What is a TV obsessed gal to do this year, now that both of those shows have finished their runs? Instead of being sad and grumpy, I have found some joy in the mid-season television schedule. Read full story

2 Comments »

Supernatural: It Takes Two

October 5th, 2010 | by | new season, new shows, science fiction, supernatural, tv shows

Oct
05

I was nervous about the newly run-by-Sera-Gamble Supernatural. Not because I don’t have confidence in her, I surely do, but because after five years of Kripke!, who knew if anyone else could do it? So far, I think she has done a fine job.

Episode one: No one is surprized (except for Dean, I suppose), that Sammy is back and out killing him some monsters. The real surprize is the resurrection of Grandpa Winchester, the lovely and buff Mitch Pileggi. So, we have two reanimated Winchesters, and a slew of cousins off fighting monsters, as a good family should, when the genie from season two(?) offspring decide to come after Dean.

Whatever. The episode is all set-up for the season, so I wasn’t expecting anything too awesome. New season, new show runner, new season arc, blah blah blah. At least we got a glamor shot of Metallicar, the savior of the world!

Episode two: Muuuuch better!! With all the exposition out of the way, I think I see where we are headed this season. Sera Gamble had said that they were gonna go back to hunting, and monsters, and so far we have gotten souped up versions of old monsters we thought we knew. I am hoping this trend continues. The Alpha shape-shifter freaked me right out, and that is how I like my Supernatural. A nice dash of silly Dean/Sammy & baby shape-shifter riding shotgun made me giggle. Plus, as much as I was annoyed that Lisa and kiddo seemed to be kind of shoe-horned into Deans conscience, I have really enjoyed her character these first two episodes. Could a strong, loving and understanding woman for Dean be the influence of our new show runner? Very possible.

And, of course, Grandpa Winchester ain’t necessarily what he seems to be, and I predict we will lose at least one Winchester cousin an episode until we are back down to our lovely duo. Fine with me, because next week? Castiel!!

2 Comments »

The state of science fiction on TV

May 24th, 2009 | by | human target, new season, new shows, past life, schedule

May
24

As it is with every year, a whole bunch of science fiction-y shows were canceled at the end of the season, but I have to give it to the networks for trying a bunch of new ones next year.

It was so hard to keep track of the comings and goings during the upfronts, but SciFi Wire thankfully charted it all in a very understandable fashion.

fox_logo1

The clear winner, IMHO, is Fox.

Sure, Fox canceled Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, better known as TSCC because it’s a lot freakin’ shorter. But it did keep Dollhouse around for at least another 13 episodes. (Side note: This comic is probably a bit too close to reality for comfort when it comes to how the decision was made.) I’m thinking that Fox didn’t feel like incurring the wrath of the Whedonverse again, whereas TSCC ended at a spot that could full well be the series’ end. (Not that I wouldn’t have loved to see where it would have picked up in the fall.)

Fox also kept Fringe, which is one of my favorite shows. So the net gets brownie points for that. It’s also picked up Human Target and Past Life, each for 13 episodes and for midseason.

Read full story

4 Comments »