Posts in category Weekly TV Roundup

Weekly TV Roundup for 9/30/11

Sep30
2011 Written by Editor

The Good Wife 3×01 –”A New Day” I thought this was an awesome premiere! The courtroom scenes felt a bit uneven at times and I totally did not understand the point of the daughter’s tutor, but other than that, I loved everything! I have to admit, the writers had me going about Will and Alicia. I thought for sure she had backed out at the last minute at that hotel and that’s why he was giving her the cold shoulder. Turns out, it was for the exact opposite reason!! And they’re still doing it, too! Wow, I was never really on board with this ship, but I guess I can see how it has potential.

I also thought it was awesome how Diane knows something is up with her people. She told Kalinda and Alicia to “make it better,” and then she called Will out for being too hard on Alicia, saying she feels like the only adult in the room. Ha! Actually, all of the workplace stuff was golden, and I’m already loving having Eli Gold right across the hall. Can’t wait for next week!

Weekly TV Roundup for 5/28/10

May28
2010 Written by Editor

Criminal Minds 5×23 — “Our Darkest Hour”: I actually liked this episode quite a bit, so I was surprised to read other fans’ reactions on the TWOP board. It seems that I’m in the minority here. Sure, there were several things to nitpick about the plot, but what stood out for me is that I was completely engrossed in the ep from beginning to end. This is a big deal, as most of the time I just have the TV on in the background while I surf the ‘net or check my email.

I enjoyed seeing Martin from Without a Trace again, so it’s too bad he had to play such a tool on this show. All I kept thinking was, “You’re an FBI agent, you should know how to handle this situation!” But of course he was “just” a burglary detective, not a federal agent in this one.

I was pretty shocked when Martin was shot, but apparently I’m the only one. Most other viewers seemed to see that coming from a mile away. I didn’t think it would be a “to be continued…” affair, so I was expecting Martin to pull a fast one somehow.

And what was the deal with the Tim Curry character? He was extremely creepy and disgusting. I wonder what his physical defect is? In the profile, the BAU team said that there’s something physically wrong with him, which is why he has to operate in darkness. But really, besides needing to scope out some fat burner reviews and get himself to the nearest dentist, I didn’t think there was anything noticeably wrong with him.

Well, I’m happy to say that Criminal Minds makes my cut and will keep its position in the Weekly TV Roundup column next fall!

Weekly TV Roundup for 5/21/10

May21
2010 Written by Editor

House 6×22 — “Help Me”: Well, this bland season finale seals the deal for me. I will not be watching House with any kind of regularity next fall. I did not get into this show because of the relationships, and I’ve never particularly cared for a House-Cuddy hookup, so to make that the be all and end all of the season just didn’t do it for me. And wtf was up with Cuddy anyway? First she tells House that she doesn’t love him and is engaged to Lucas, then 20 minutes later she says she does love him and has already broken up with Lucas?? What is this, junior high?! Ugh, so stupid and annoying!

Castle 2×24 — “A Deadly Game”: I really liked this episode. I’m surprised at the very strong fan reaction the other way on some popular message boards. Apparently, a lot of people felt the ending — with Beckett finally ready to declare her feelings for Castle, only to be interrupted by his announcement that he’s spending the summer with ex-wife Gina — was too cliche and trite. I can certainly understand that opinion, but come on! I’m not going to let two minutes ruin the entire episode. Plus, I still totally ‘ship Castle and Beckett, and know that Gina is just a minor obstacle on the road to eventual happiness. Heck, we don’t even know if there’s going to be a sexual component to the Hamptons summer, so why get bent out of shape about it just yet?

Also, I wanted to say that I loved Mitch Pileggi’s role here! He was awesome as a would-be undercover operative… and was then totally hilarious in the jail cell scene where he realized this wasn’t part of the game. Man, the way he crumbled in two seconds flat was priceless! Way to go, Skin-man!

Lost 6×16 — “What They Died For”: I seriously don’t understand why so many people think Lost is the greatest show on television. Message boards are just full of fawning posts over this latest episode, but I was underwhelmed by it. Who knows, maybe the significance of these events is just over my head, but really? This was an awesome episode chock-full of answers?

What I saw was Jacob telling the candidates that they were chosen to come to the island because they had lonely, crappy lives. Um, we already knew that, thanks to the millions of flashbacks that have taken place over the past six seasons. But thanks for the insight there, buddy. And then he says someone has to take over the job of protecting the light on the island…and no one bothers to ask why??? Are you serious??! That would be my first question. What is the significance of that fucking tunnel o’ gold on this uncharted island in the middle of nowhere? Unless I understand why it’s so critical to protect the island, I can’t think much of Jack’s “sacrifice”.

Criminal Minds 5×22 — “The Internet is Forever”: I thought this was one of the best CM episodes of the entire season. The message maybe wasn’t the most original one around (don’t share your entire life on the Internet…duh!), but I liked the way it played out with these characters.

One thing that didn’t make sense, however, was the amount of time the unsub needed in order to set up his victims. During the profiling session, I could’ve sworn one of the agents said the unsub needed several days/encounters with the women to get to know the house, the pets, etc. But when we saw how the guy actually did it, we learned that he was in and out of the house in maybe an hour or two (demonstrating the fiber optic connection). So how did he get to know the animals so well? How did he plant cameras in five different locations all over the house? Perhaps I’m nitpicking here, but that bothered me for a bit!

Weekly TV Roundup for 5/14/10

May14
2010 Written by Editor

House 6×21 — “Baggage”: Wow, I just hated this episode! It was completely boring, the PoTW took a backseat to character “drama” yet again, and as a result, I nearly fell asleep. In fact, I nearly stopped watching several times, but thought there might be an awesome reveal at the end (a la many Lost eps), so I stuck with it. Big mistake, big waste of time. Seriously, this show is on my personal chopping block and will not return in its Weekly TV Roundup slot next season!

Castle 2×23 — “Overkill”: This episode was only ok for me. I found the mystery to be underwhelming, and the “competition” between Demming and Castle felt a bit forced. Castle writers usually don’t go for those types of situations because they’re too easy and have been done so many times before by other shows, so I was disappointed to see a lame pissing contest take center stage. I didn’t like Beckett’s kiss at the end either. I got the feeling that viewers were supposed to feel bad for Castle there, but didn’t the previous ep kind of leave off in a similar way? At least give Castle something new to do so he’s not constantly mooning over Beckett from afar. That’ll get old pretty damn quick.

Lost 6×15 — “Across the Sea”: I can’t imagine any reality in which Lost producers would conclude that this is a terrific way to spend one of the last few precious hours left in the series. Did we really need another history/origin story here? Did we have to spend the ENTIRE hour learning about Jacob and his unnamed brother’s childhood angst and mommy issues? Good lord. Some people are positively giddy about the “answers” that were presented in this episode, but I swear, if we went the whole series without ever answering the question of who those skeleton remains of the island’s own “Adam and Eve” were, I wouldn’t have lost any sleep over it. Sheesh. And on a shallow note, though I usually love me some CJ Cragg, she just did not look all that great in HDTV.

Criminal Minds 5×21 — “Exit Wounds”: This was just a ho-hum episode for me. The killings/killer weren’t all that interesting, and besides the different location (Alaska), this episode totally felt like a been-there-done-that exercise for the team. I didn’t even like the Penelope/Morgan interaction, which I usually do, because it felt totally forced this time around. The best part for me? When Rossi walked into the BAU in a tux at the very beginning.

Weekly TV Roundup for 5/6/10

May06
2010 Written by Editor

House 6×20 — “The Choice”: There wasn’t really much to like about this episode. The POTW’s “dilemma” didn’t seem like that big a deal to me (does anyone other than religious zealots react that way to the possibility of being gay???), so I couldn’t get on board with his waffling. Wilson paying House’s underlings to invite House out with them was rather sophomoric, and two out of the three dates were boring as hell anyway. The karaoke scene was fun, but obviously that’s not going to happen every week. After all, this isn’t Ally frickin’ McBeal! And House turning into an alcoholic? Oh, god… I’m definitely out after this season!!!

Castle 2×22 — “Food to Die For”: I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I like how the writers set up these totally cliché situations, and then sidestep the cliché at the last second. For example, Beckett’s high school friend could have turned out to be the killer or a scheming, jealous bitch, but she was neither. She actually seemed like an old friend genuinely pleased to be able to catch up with Beckett. And I loved how Beckett went back to the restaurant at the end to keep the friendship going. Beckett needs more women in her life!

Castle was his usual charming self as well. I LOVED how Ryan mentioned that everyone knows Castle brings coffee in early every morning just in the hopes of running into Beckett! That was a very cute comment — and very accurate. Also, I thought it was very much in character for Castle to experiment with liquid nitrogen. And the scene reminded me of Nathan Fillion’s tweet from March 31, when they were apparently filming the scene:

Things I put in liquid nitrogen today. Eggs. Apple. Pencil. Rubber bands. Broccoli. Q-tips. Half peeled banana. Money. What wud u freeze?

Just awesome

Criminal Minds 5×20 — “A Thousand Words”: This was a pretty good ep, as far as the investigation went. I wasn’t really into the serial killer of the week or his victims/profile/motivation/partner, but I enjoyed the interaction between the BAU team members. Their friendships haven’t been highlighted all that much recently, so it was nice to get more references to how well they get along with each other. Prentiss and Morgan begging Reid to go through the journals for them (and Reid saying they now owe him), Rossi calling Garcia “kitten”, the poker game at the end, the “Sin to Win” weekend banter… great stuff!

Weekly TV Roundup for 4/29/10

Apr29
2010 Written by Editor

House 6×19 — “Open and Shut”: Parts of this episode were ok, but I didn’t really like the thing as a whole. I thought the patient was pretty interesting this week — maybe because the guest star was Sarah Wayne Callies (aka Dr. Tancredi from Prison Break). I think I’m automatically disposed to like her no matter what she’s in!

The House/Wilson stuff was juvenile, as usual, and I’m getting sick of House acting like a jealous child all the time. Really? His big plan for breaking up Wilson and Sam is to put the milk in the door instead of the shelf and twist the Kohler kitchen faucet so it isn’t at the particular angle that Wilson likes? Come on! In his own mind, he might have reasons and justifications for trying to sabotage Wilson’s relationship, but to outsiders it looks creepy as hell. And just how long is he going to go on living there? That whole arrangement is getting ridiculous.

As for the Taub storyline… sigh. I’ve mentioned many times before that I don’t like the character, so I guess it’s no surprise that this part of the ep annoyed me to no end. What a selfish, disgusting pig of a man! I can’t believe how high and mighty he acts with his peers (and House) when he’s such a slimeball to his wife. An open marriage? Really? That little bald guy? Good thing he has money, otherwise no woman would look twice at him.

Weekly TV Roundup for 4/22/10

Apr22
2010 Written by Editor

House 6×18 — “Knight’s Fall”: I absolutely HATE those medieval reenactment fairs, so the 4:40 opening felt like a friggin’ eternity to me and I wasn’t interested in anything pertaining to that annoying patient, either. The Wilson/House/Sam dynamic was sort of intriguing, but I didn’t buy House dumping the investigator’s (argh, I can’t think of his name right now) report at the end. I know this is supposed to be the Season of Change for House, but come on… His whole life is built on curiosity/nosiness, so that would be a tough one to change. We also learned that Cuddy once slept with her father’s best friend. Hmm, I wonder if that tidbit is actually going to mean something one of these days.

Castle 2×21 — “Den of Thieves”: This episode was decent enough. I thought the ripped-from-the-headlines plot about late-night talk show hosts was a bit over the top, but I liked the personal stuff that happened between Castle and Beckett. Specifically, I loved how she was jealous of his hooking up with that actress, and how she really laid into him when she thought he was going back to her at the end there. Even if Beckett can’t admit that she wants to be involved with Castle herself, it’s clear that she at least cares for him. And next week, the tables are turned… finally!

Lost 6×13 — “The Last Recruit”: I actually liked this episode a lot. I love how everyone is coming together in the Alt. U., and appreciate that the island plot is moving forward bit by bit. I’m still not sure how it will all play out in the next four episodes, but I’m definitely interested again. I have a bad feeling about Jack, though. I don’t know why, but something about this ep just made it seem like he’s going to be called on to make a major sacrifice. He has never been my favorite character (I’ve never even really liked him), but if he ends up doing something that saves everyone, I know I’ll cry!

Finally, Sun and Jin reunite! Too bad I was so distracted by the pylons that I couldn’t enjoy the moment. I thought for sure they’d both get struck down right there and then. Oh, and how awkward was it to have everyone just standing around watching them declare their love for each other and kiss?

And I know I should be over this by now, but I’m still taken out of the story whenever I see Hugo and how…big he is. You’d think that being on an island (even with Dharma food supplies) would be more conducive to weight loss than a boatload of hydroxycut advanced, but there’s Hugo looking just the same as ever. Oh, well, I guess it makes the alternate universe scenes easier to film!

Weekly TV Roundup for 4/15/10

Apr15
2010 Written by Editor

House 6×17 — “Lockdown”: Well, obviously this wasn’t a typical House episode, but I kinda liked it. Hugh Laurie directed, and managed to make Thirteen and Foreman almost enjoyable. Thirteen seemed so much more like a real person during her “Truth or Dare” game with Wilson, and Foreman needs to get high a lot more often so his human side can shine through, too. I didn’t care much about the patient of the week’s lost baby, nor did I enjoy the House/dying man interaction because it felt like we’d been through those scenarios a time or two before. I didn’t like the Cameron/Chase stuff either because they’ve never been a favorite couple of mine. Still, as far as the odd pairings (Thirteen/Wilson, Taub/Foreman) went, I give this episode a pass!

Castle 2×120 — “The Late Shaft”: This episode was decent enough. I thought the ripped-from-the-headlines plot about late-night talk show hosts was a bit over the top, but I liked the personal stuff that happened between Castle and Beckett. Specifically, I loved how she was jealous of his hooking up with that actress, and how she really laid into him when she thought he was going back to her at the end there. Even if Beckett can’t admit that she wants to be involved with Castle herself, it’s clear that she at least cares for him. And next week, the tables are turned… finally!

Lost 6×12 — “Everybody Loves Hugo”: This was kind of a meh episode for me. I like Hurley and Libby, so while the Alt U. scenes were decent, I just want answers at this point. Instead, there are more questions. Like what is Alt U. Desmond’s role now? Is he trying to kill Locke or just make him remember the island stuff? Even if Desmond, Locke, Hurley, et al. remember the island, what can they realistically do about it?

As for the on-island stuff… again, meh. Never cared for Ilana, so I didn’t care that she blew herself into a million pieces. Jack’s reaction upon seeing the resurrected Locke was great, but… was it worth waiting almost an hour for? No. I still don’t understand the various power struggles, so the “let’s do this”, “no, let’s do that!” warring factions just exasperate me. And what’s up with the whispers being the voices of people who are “stuck there”? What a lame-ass explanation!! I thought the producers insisted the island wasn’t a purgatory-like place? Sounds like purgatory to me!

Criminal Minds 5×19 — “A Rite of Passage”: Well, I did not like that at all. The basic outline of the story, that of some vigilante mowing down would-be immigrants, was ok, but the script didn’t really do much justice to it. Plus, I thought the guest actors were TERRIBLE in their delivery, making all the dialogue sound incredibly stilted and clunky. And what was the point of the safe house, where the woman was raped while the others were locked in a barn? It felt like that scene was just there to say, “look at what the poor immigrants go through for a chance to live in the United States…” Whatever. Oh, and how lucky was it that the psycho deputy just happened to have newspaper clippings indicating exactly where he was running off to? *Eyeroll*

Weekly TV Roundup for 4/8/10

Apr08
2010 Written by Editor

Castle 2×19 — “Wrapped Up in Death”: I thought this was a solid ep. In reading some viewer reactions, I see that a lot of people are caught up about the inaccuracy of the main plotline regarding Mayan mummies or whatever. That didn’t bother me in the least, because I don’t know a damn thing about that topic anyway. What I liked about this ep was Castle at first not believing in the curse and then thinking maybe there was something to it after all. And of course it was awesome that Beckett was the one behind all the random “mishaps”. Not many shipper moments here, but the part about Castle wanting Beckett to help take care of Alex should anything happen to him was kinda sweet and shows how much he thinks of her.

Lost 6×11 — “Happily Ever After”: This is my favorite episode of the season so far. It’s not that I’m a fan of Desmond in particular, but I felt that we’re finally starting to work towards some answers. It seems that the Alt. Universe “sideways flashes” represent the lives the characters wished they could have. That’s why Desmond got along with Widmore in this one. That’s why Locke and Helen ended up together. That’s why Jack was trying to be a better father than Christian was to him. Some of the characters are seeing connections between the two worlds. Charlie saw something. Eloise probably knows something. Widmore knows. Daniel suspects. And now Desmond knows too.

These are the types of storylines that hold my interest. The struggles for power on the island, the smoke monster, zombie Locke… all that is b.s. compared to what happens off the island. I know 99.9% of Lost fans feel the exact opposite, but I simply cannot bring myself to care about temples, Richard’s immortality, Jacob, the MIB, etc.

Criminal Minds 5×18 — “The Fight”: Ugh, what a boring episode to welcome the show back after a long hiatus. I had no idea that a CM spinoff was in the works, and I have to say that after seeing the new cast, I will NOT bother to tune in to the 2.0 version. None of them seemed the least bit interesting, and Forest Whitaker is just so wrong as an FBI agent. Anyway, the interactions with the new team lessened the screen time of the regulars, which had a direct impact on my enjoyment of this episode. Sigh.

Weekly TV Roundup for 4/1/10

Apr01
2010 Written by Editor

Castle 2×18 — “Boom!”: Loved it! I was hoping not to be disappointed after last week’s awesomeness, and “Boom!” did not let me down! We knew Beckett survived, so I’m glad they got that part out of the way quickly and without focusing on it too much (’cause seriously, she “dove” into a porcelain bathtub and emerged with zero injuries?). Everything that made last week’s ep work continued to be on display this week: Jordan Shaw, Beckett’s jealousy, Castle being Castle, etc. The only complaint I have is that there simply wasn’t enough Ryan and Esposito. Oh, well, can’t have it all, I guess!

Lost 6×10 — “The Package”: After the crapfest that was last week’s ep, this week’s was bound to be better no matter what. I like Sun and Sun & Jin (but not necessarily Jin alone), so it was cool to see the focus shift back to them for once. Loved it when Jin got to see his daughter’s pictures, and I’m hoping they get to meet up in the real world at some point as well. I also liked how we saw Jin’s version of Sayid taking down the baddies in the restaurant kitchen. For as much as I don’t care for some of the overlapping interactions with the minor characters, I love seeing how the main folks ran into each other in the real world and/or alt. universe. As for Sun’s “aphasia”, I’m just going to pretend that never happened. Really, show? Aphasia? For god’s sake!