Maybe it's a winter slump, but the last couple of nights haven't really thrilled me.
Heroes
I've been luke warm about the show since it's inception. Last week felt like an upbeat, at least in the overall plot and structure department. I dunno though - this one felt again like the show was spinning its wheels. The really interesting tidbits - Cheerleader's Mom and Heeero's Dad - were all to brief and really completely unsurprising. Oh, and every TV guide I saw out there gets extra demerits for spoiling Takei's appeareance right in the first sentence of the teaser. About as bad as Fox showing Jack's dad ... but more on that in a moment.
That Shifty Dad can't make do without Hooker's Mom's pr0nsite is mildly disturbing. Sadly, it's also about as interesting as the rest of the family drama. Wasn't Shifty Dad like a total ex-con badass? And his kid can hack any electronic device in the world with his thumb? Can you say road trip? Can we drop this new age Cosby crap now?
And did I miss something? When did Invisible Doctor Who indicate to Mimic Boy that he could train anyone?
Meh.
Studio 60
Still a heartfelt favorite of mine - last night had the characters injecting themselves with dumb to advance the story. Darius and Simon's feud - and maybe this is just the white boy in me - feels petty and immature. Matt's hounding of Harriet seems borderline litigal. Tom's inability to explain to Lucy that he got railroaded by Jack - a known railroader - is inane.
Basically the only subplot I had any real sympathy for was the cocaine addict and soon to be single mom trapped on the roof.
And where is Jeannie with the light brown hair?
24
I can see it now - writers crammed into a tiny room wondering, "how can we portray Jack's family life as more twisted and tortured without having to bring Kim back?"
"Well, has he tortured any of his close relatives?"
"Bingo!"
Sure, he's the puppetmaster who has possibly been behind all kinds of evil schemes ... but Jack doesn't know that. And I couldn't tell if I wanted more melodrama in the conversation. Like when Scooter .... Graham complains about prison, have Jack cry out "Try being lashed, bitch!" and then when his dad jumps in the middle have Jack run out of the room crying that nobody understands.
OK, maybe it was better as it played out. Not good, but still better.
Battlestar Galactica
Part of me liked the Baltar scenes - although add in dashes of critique about melodrama and heavy-handed metaphors ... and the hit them with the spice weasels.
About the D, Apollo, Starbuck and ... um ... that other guy ... I officially stopped caring last episode. Look, Dualla's better than the whole lot of them combined. So everytime Apollo makes her cry, that's like 10 new dumbass points for him.
tagged: television
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
TV Watch: Nights Of Meh
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2 comments:
Haven't watched Battlestar just yet; I'll catch it from the PVR this week. But I didn't think Heroes was quite as MEH as you indicate. Mind you, I do have the slight advantage of not having watched any teasers, so I didn't even know about Takei, and it was an interesting surprise. Yet, on that point, is the "mehness" of that issue really even the fault of the show?
"Shifty Dad" - cute double entendre, there :) Yeah, their whole storyline feels pretty iffy. Hooker mom's "power" has the same characteristics as schizophrenia, so "ooh, wow." to that... Shifty Dad is entirely wasting HIS talent. Kudos to the son for taking the advantage he has (even if it ISN'T moral; he's done what a kid his age would PROBABLY DO, given that kind of ability)
Why is Hiro's ability tied to needing possession of the sword all of a sudden? That seems weak. If their abilities are tied to their mental picture of themselves, or self-confidence, then perhaps I can see how Hiro has felt he's not doing well enough to deserve his power, having gambled with it and not being able to save Charlie. But he's going to fix that by STEALing something else? Again, weak.
I feel that Heroes doesn't spend enough time on each particular storyline... There is so much more that can be said or done in each scene, that it feels disappointing when they whisk you off to the next one...
I kinda have a general state of meh with Heroes though, in part because of these rising questions like, "what's with the sword? How does Hiro really know it will fix his power? Why didn't Sylar escape when he attacked Eden? What's with Invisible Doctor being a trainer?" etc.
I completely agree with you - I think the show would be well served to spend an episode focusing largely on a character or pair of characters. It's worked wonderfully for Lost and would probably help with a lot of these odd questions which aren't so much insurmountable ... just nagging.
All meh aside, I still have hope for the show. The core is there. It's a good concept.
And I think Battlestar was probably less meh than most :) Largely - Apollo has just begun to annoy me. My sympathy for his character is pretty drained.
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