Archive for the 'TV' Category

TV Review part 2

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Mercy – NBC’s take on the current nurse’s point of view type medical show, and it turns out to be quite boring. Cases are boring, the characters too. Definitely dropping this one after one episode.

Trauma – Another medical drama from NBC, following The Third Watch’s footsteps. Don’t see that much difference. Isn’t that special anyway, also dropping this one.

Three Rivers – Well, what do you know, ANOTHER medical drama. This one from CBS, following the 3 points concerning organ transplantation (donor, patient, doctor). Sounds good, but like most CBS shows, it chooses style over substance. The plot is predictable too, with the cliche topics and choppy dialogue trying to connect the special effects into something quite boring. This one is DOA too (dried on arrival, title pun!).

The Forgotten – ABC tries another procedural in the form of a group of volunteers trying to find missing persons (a highly unlikely synopsis). With no authority, this group tries to be creative in ways of finding what they want, but in the end, it’s still not that interesting.

Community – Half hour comedy starring Chevy Chase in a co-starring capacity and with Joel McHale headlining. You’d think it would be outrageously funny, but it’s just mildly entertaining. In essence, it’s still a letdown. As this group of adult try to finish their GED in community college, the stuff that happens there isn’t particularly interesting.

Modern Family – Another half hour comedy, trying to simulate a reality show style(including shaking camera etc), quickly paced, and stories are sometimes a bit contrived. Only slightly entertaining. First Ed O’Neill role (normal father figure) that doesn’t irritate the hell out of me.

V (2009) – A reboot of the old series, revealing the whole concept in its pilot episode already. With aliens among us and the arrival of several spaceships, they’re obviously up to no good (no ambiguity built in this series). While seemingly serialised, it still follows simple episodic story telling techniques, clearly never reaching top quality television here (unlike it’s ABC siblings Lost and FlashForward). From this batch though, it’s the best entry.

Review: TV Season Fall 2009

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

A bit early, I know. I just finished with my backlog of Lost, Heroes and 24, finishing just in time for a bit of summer TV (Weeds, Monk, Psych, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), which usually overlaps the season or series openers for this fall. And I didn’t see that many new shows yet, but because I tend to forget stuff a lot, I might as well start now (starting with some summer releases).

Better Off Ted (ABC) – A sit-com, what can I say. Haven’t like sit-com since forever, but this one had its funny moments, but couldn’t really pull me back to having a favorite again (like the times of Friends and Mad About You). I wouldn’t let one tear out if this show got canceled.

Kings (NBC) – A nicely serialized show that didn’t get enough attention (including a bad Saturday time slot) and hence was soon-after canceled. Creator Michael Green (Heroes) prepared a full season story arch that took as on a religious trip that’s both engaging and thought provoking. It had clear characters that stood out, but each had still had some surprises up their sleeves. On NBC, their most surprising shows don’t live that long, with none upcoming as well, as Jay Leno takes 5 spots away already.

Dark Blue (aired on TNT, from the big shot, Jerry Bruckheimer) – A darker even more episodic undercover cop show, starring Dylan McDermott (The Practice) and a few newbies. Doesn’t get into the characters that much, and the reset button is almost a deal breaker here. Drama seems okay, but you need to leave your disbelief at the door steps, as every week shows another undercover job (with another agent deep inside the bad guys’ organization, which in normal time would’ve taken a few months at least). Mildly enjoyable during the summer low season, but it wouldn’t hold up during the Fall sweeps.

Defying Gravity (ABC) – Full blown sci-fi (with space scenes !) that makes you pretty nostalgic (set in the future, so both making you remember one of the best sci-fi show ever, Star Trek:TNG, while still it grounded enough to keep it well within budget, as in normal buildings, clothing and keeping smaller sets, etc). Drama was there, the pretty faces were there (Laura Harris:smile:), and even a mystery arch. Too bad horrible timing and an evenly horrible timeslot shot this one straight out of the air without ever entering orbit.

Hung (HBO) – A topic that would only find a home on HBO, it’s about a school teacher/coach, who needs to be a man-whore to earn enough money to get by in life. It was many funny and dramatic aspects, and Thomas Jane performs quite adequately (who would’ve thought, after his silent performance as The Punisher).

The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien (NBC) – With the new launch, I actually went back to a regular schedule (previously watching Conan and Jay only to kill time or if there was an interesting guest on) missing almost no show. Conan is as sharp as ever, even in a toned down version of his Late Night show. Skits are between hysterically funny to cheesy, but Conan himself is always there to spice things up if it gets too boring. His quick quips keeps this show alive, and his self-mockery during the monologue and guest interviews keeps everything fresh and everyone on their toes. While not a solid ratings winner (while having the demographics, David Letterman still wins on total viewers), this is clearly the talk show to keep watching.

The Jay Leno Show (NBC) – Bringing his previous Tonight Show into the prime-time grid is clearly just a cost-cutting measure, the show itself looks almost exactly the same. It feels a bit old and stale, so stick to Conan if you know what daily comedy is good for ya.

Flash Forward (ABC) – Every year you have that special wow-moment when a new show wakes you up (previously, Lost, 24, Heroes, etc). For this year, it’s almost instantly clear that for this year it’s Flash Forward (created by David S. Goyer, Brannon Braga). The pilot has excellent directing (David S. Goyer himself), intense acting (Joseph Fiennes), brain spinning synopsis, a pounding rhythm, adrenaline pumping story line and a sharp story arch. Production value drops your jaw to the ground, with world wide devastation coming through in abundance on your small TV screen. While reviewers call this show promising, I say, it’s a definite winner.

Summer TV

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

With the main TV season down for hiatus, a few special shows left the airwaves for good. Most painful to watch go is not a small list, namely: Eli Stone, Battlestar Galactica, Boston Legal, ER, My Name Is Earl, Prison Break and Pushing Daisies.
A few amusing shows came and go before I even reviewed them (My Own Worst Enemy, Life on Mars, Kings).

But now the summer is upon us and the cable shows show what they’re worth, mostly opening new medical shows, soon after the long-running ER said goodbye. With more shows opening in the fall, these are what you can watch now:

Hawthorne (TNT): Starrring (and exec produced by) Jada Pinkett Smith as a Chief Nursing Officer, as a still grieving alone mom raising a teenage kid, has to handle nurse problems, mostly antagonising doctors. Themes seem pretty straightforward, and doesn’t seem too cutting edge.

Nurse Jackie (Showtime): Nurses seem to be this years theme (with the upcoming NBC’s Mercy also being about nurses), again they have problems with their superiors. Makes one really scared to go to a hospital with the war within going on all the time and all. Nurse Jackie (Edie Falco from the Sopranos) is the central character, having a nice family, but still finds time for substance addiction and some adultry on the side. Being darker, with dryer humor, it sets itself more apart from other shows, so if Jacke and Hawthorne had to battle it out, I’d say Jackie deserves to win.

Royal Pains (USA network): Previously fired ER doc finds a new job in the wealthy suburbs of the Hamptons. Having to solve medical crisis on the spot and under the radar, it’s a McGuyver style show, filled with fancy big houses, fast cars, swimming pools and sunny beaches all around. It’s a big question how this show will survive with these elements being the only driving force. Still lightly amusing though.

Previous shows all have some character with British accent starring, but two new shows have them as the headliner.

Mental (Fox): About a psychiatrist (Chris Vance, from Prison Break, season 3) who treats his patients in unusual ways, of course, causing conflicts with some superiors and colleagues. Co-star Jacqueline McKenzie (The 4400) actually has an Ozzie accent, but hides it for most TV roles.
Overall cases don’t seem too interesting though, seeing the patients deranged view of the world is not that interesting.

The Philanthropist (NBC): Corporate CEO (James Purefoy) lost his son a year ago, and somehow lands on the path of being an all-round do-gooder. Traveling all around the world (with the pilot having location shootings of Africa, including a variety of village and forest wide helicopter shots), it’s a question how long the budget will last. Slightly inspiring, though I don’t have millions to spend.

Review: New TV shows

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

The 2008-2009 season has opened again, and now we get to see the SAG strike after-math. And it doesn’t look pretty at all. Here are the new entries so far:

The Mentalist: CBS, home of the procedural crime shows, comes with another entry, mixing in a bit of all the other show (mixing flashy imagery, dark and light drama, and a serial killer for a continuous backstory), but most of all, looks like a complete rip-off of USA network’s Psych. While Psych is laughing your ass of funny, which dynamic characters to fill in stories, this one focuses on one character that really doesn’t seem to get off the ground. While looking at this used-to-be-fake-psych character from a drama viewpoint, it doesn’t stand out enough to really hit any wow-factor.

Fringe: Not to be missed becaused it’s headed by one of my most favorite producer around (JJ Abrams), it’s a blatant X-Files rip-off. From the opening sequence (hand print sign), to a recognisable theme, and to top it off, taking an X-Files producer in its crew (Darin Morgan) to top it off. It’s more episodic than one expects from Abrams, but since this show airs on Fox, it might be a logical choice for the target demographics. The look, feel, and atmosphere is still very X-Files like, including the running theme of believer vs. unbeliever, supernatural and faith vs. science, but still, I expect Abrams will pull it off to make something special of this show.

Gary Unmarried: If the last decade of comedies have proven anything, it’s that normal sitcoms just don’t cut it anymore. A single look at single-cam (My Name is Earl, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and you clearly see the era of Friends and Mad About You is really over. This one is no different. Sure, a few soft laughs are available, but overall, it’s too cliche, and not special enough. I won’t be touching any sitcoms soon, this genre is really dead.

Raising the Bar: TNT comes with a court-room drama, a genre I usually like. Here it lacks a lot, mostly a smart guy to push special court cases forward (say, someone like David E. Kelley, who does/did it from a drama standpoint (The Practice) or comedy standpoint (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal)). So here you have mostly predictable dull cases, and a whole group of not-so-interesting characters. The characters from both sides (prosecutors and public defenders) are supposedly a tight group of friends, a fertile ground for cliche conflicts. A noble effort to show every case from both standpoints (though the public defenders are naturally ALWAYS the protagonists), but creator/producer Steven Bochco doesn’t seem to be able to put something off the ground that’s worth mentioning.

Knight Rider 2008: NBC resurrects an old eighties properties, and updates it with *gasp* … HORRIBLE CGI ! In the times of the A-Team and Airwolf, the Knight Rider fared well alone on the cool factor, but in these times, it just doesn’t cut it anymore. Add some horrible characters (coupled with even worse actors), bad writing (and hence, badly directed and cut episodes), and you have a toe-curlingly bad series. Maybe fun to watch with a group of friends, purely for the purpose at poking fun, but besides that, it has no redeeming qualities.

TV Summer season

Monday, September 1st, 2008

It’s already over. It’s September, and new shows are ready to premiere. So how was this summer’s TV season ?

Well, as usual, half a season of Monk and Psych are always nice. Weeds was up to par also. The Closer remains mildly entertaining, and Last Comic Standing was funny now and then too.
But for the newcomers, it was somewhat disappointing.

The Cleaner: Sappy drama (one of the few originals from A&E Television Networks) about addiction, in the long run, all the episodes are somewhat the same. And while Benjamin Bratt is a good actor, it’s seeing more of Grace Park (during her Battlestar Galactica downtime) that makes it more bearable.

Flashpoint: All flashy, no depth. An elite group of police officers called the SRU (Strategic Response Unit), defuse a hostage situation every week. Blablabla. Seen it all, been there, done that. Not to mention how predictable these story lines unfold.

Generation Kill: HBO’s mini-series is actually about nothing. There’s no real action, and most of the time it’s just soldiers either talking in military slang, or they’re talking bullshit about nothing for hours and hours. With so many testosterone and weapons, it’s really a miracle how it gets to be so dull.

As you can see, not much happened on TV this summer. Boy, was I lucky I got to go on vacation.

Post-WGA strike

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

Lately, I’ve been a normal potato. But the end is near, I can be a couch potato again, somehwere in April.
Now that the Writer’s Strike is over, TV shows will slowly return back in April (though bringing their season total around 16-20 eps, instead of the normal 22-24 eps). Mostly the old shows, new shows will skip this mid-season return and come back in September (yay for a next season pickup for Pushing Daisies). Some serialised shows will also hold off for a restart, and go for a Sept. premiere as well, like Prison Break or Heroes.
One of the biggest victim though, 24 is now slated for a Jan. 2009 premiere.

TV review – mid-WGA-strike

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008

With the writer’s on strike, most TV shows are cutting their seasons in half. But luckily, some networks planned ahead with some mid-season replacements. Here’s a quick round:

Journeyman 101 – 113:
The first series (on NBC) to finish its run, it’s another attempt to do something with time traveling. We’ve seen it all before, with only last year’s Day Break on its heels. This one dials the serialisation back a bit, and it’s quite episodic in nature. It also means, sometimes is predictable. But for now, it seems like the average show that will do just fine as a time-filler. No tears if there’s no follow-up.

October Road 201 – 207:
One of the few drama that will run through March, also a short season. Like the first season, there’s some tension here and there, but also still the childish bits interfere with the real drama. It’s still nice to have it on the meagre scripted shows schedule though.

Extras S2 Christmas Special:
Signaling the end after two seasons (exactly like the Office went out), this special is again an extra long episode, but feeling more like a movie. Carefully written, it’s as excellent as before, it’s continuously hilarious yet dramatic. It’s sad to know there will be no more, but then again, the next Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant project will be something fresh and new to look forward to.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 101 – 103:
Fox churns out another high paced action drama, seemingly spending a good portion of the budget to get some great production value (like other Fox shows, Prison Break and 24). So, back are the good make-up effects and straight-faced mission-based Terminators, relentlessly hunting down the Connors. Not back is only Sarah Connor we knew, with the memorable Linda Hamilton replaced by the relatively unknown Lena Headey (lacking all the intensity we’ve seen in Linda Hamilton’s character). For now, in this slimmed down TV schedule, it holds up. But there doesn’t seem to be enough dynamics going around to keep it interesting for a whole season. For now.

The Colbert Report:
Returning to the airwaves, without writers, he seems to hold up quite well, looking at a blank teleprompter. Show seems to be a bit scripted (even though Stephen Colbert’s WGA membership means he cannot write his own jokes), but it’s still as funny as ever. For your daily dose of laughs, this is the place to be.

Pre-Strike TV Schedule

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

With so few TV reviews coming from me, you might actually think I’ve stopped watching TV. Not true though. While total hours might be down from last year, it’s mainly due to the quality of new entries (reviews will come at a later time).
So here’s my TV schedule before the WGA strike began. Most shows will have a (temporary ?) stop somewhere in the next months.

The Best:
Heroes (S2)
Prison Break (S3)
CSI (S8)
Pushing Daisies (S1 – new entry)
My Name Is Earl (S3)
Grey’s Anatomy (S4)
South Park (S11)
Boston Legal (S4)
King of the Hill (S12)
The Colbert Report (S3)

The Good:
Brothers & Sisters (S2)
Private Practice (S1 – new entry)
Reaper (S1 – new entry)
Brotherhood (S2)

The Okay:
Criminal Minds (S3)
Smallville (S7)
October Road (S2)
Journeyman (S1 – new entry)

As you can see, it’s a lot. But it used to be even more ! Here’s what I don’t watch (mostly new shows):

The Best, But Already Finished This Season:
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (S3)
The Sarah Silverman Program (S2)
Damages (S1)
Weeds (S3)

Only good for a few eps:
Samantha Who?
Life
Bionic Woman
Dirty Sexy Money
Everybody Hates Chris (S3, dropped from last year regular schedule)

Never Made It Past The Pilot:
Moonlight
Women’s Murder Club
Big Shots
Cane
Aliens in America
Chuck

So, if the strike continues, I’ll just have to continue watching the backlog of the “Only good for a few eps:” category. Or do you have a better suggestion ?

Review: Dirty Sexy Money 101 – 103

Wednesday, November 21st, 2007

In the midst of the current creative crisis, one of the first series to get a full season commitment. Airing on ABC, it has big names attached to it (exec prods Greg Berlanti (Everwood, Brothers & Sisters) and Bryan Singer (House, X-Men plus sequel)), but actually hasn’t much to show for. I just tried this show because I thought it was time to hoard as much shows as I can with the WGA strike possible causing a TV blackout in the coming months.
Focusing on one family (like Brother & Sisters) and its family lawyer, it quite frankly doesn’t feel that familial. Between all the family members, there aren’t too many interactions. And with the ones shown, it’s pretty superficial. Characters are too far and apart, but doesn’t feel real at all. There’s also an ongoing backstory that might or might not develop into something, but the seriousness of that matter, combined with the strange infusion of humor also clashes in my mind.
All in all, I’m not that positive about it, but it could develop into something nice when there is a blackout (WGA and AMPTP talks resume this Monday, who knows it’ll blow over). If there’s not, I probably won’t continue with this show.

Review: Bionic Woman 101 – 106

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

One of the most anticipated series, airing on NBC, the title says it all. With David Eick heading the project, you might think it’s a good sign (Battlestar Galactica), but now, a few episodes further, you see a lot of shortcomings. Even seasoned writers like Glen Morgan (X-Files, Millennium) couldn’t save it (exiting the show early on). Most lacking is basically anything that makes a TV series excel, and comparing it to Battlestar Galactica is a huge mistake (ingredient missing ? Hell yeah, it’s called Ronald D. Moore).
So what can mr. Eick achieve on his own ? Basically a formulaic “lady kicks ass” type of show. First episodes had a few more serious sides to it (maybe even an intriguing antagonist coupled with personal turmoil and ambiguity), but those elements subside pretty quickly, leaving you with a show so easily watched on 10x speed fast forward, it’s just not worth watching anymore.
Depending solely on so-called funny dialogue, nonsensic mission objectives, and short unimaginitive action sequences might satisfy the usual NBC audience, but my standard is quite a bit higher.

TV or not TV… ?

Monday, November 5th, 2007

A quote from Shakespeare I think, but the basic idea behind it is that a dark hour is upon us. The Writers Guild of America is going to strike, immediately. At stake is a slightly higher portion of DVD (from 4 cents per disc to 8 cents) and new (online) media sales. A total amount of under $100 million a year (divided over some 12.000 writers), that the industry is not willing to budge on (earning $24.4 billion last year alone on domestic DVD sales, so we’re talking about a total of less than %1).
Last time this happened was in 1988 (a 22 week duration), and it left me scarred. For instance, Star Trek: The Next Generation has a 2 month season premiere delay, and produced The Child (a recycled script from ST: Phase II) and the most horrible episode ever in Star Trek history, flashback clip show Shades of Gray. So deservingly, the industry lost an estimated $500 million income (less advertisement sold, 10% declined viewership). And I wasn’t a savvy TV watcher back then anyway.
But now that I am, the direct impact will be:
– Immediately, no more late night shows. Colbert, Jay, Conan, they’ll be off the air, as late night shows depend the most on writers.
– Soon, no more sitcoms, as they rely a lot on on-set rewrites.
– No nicely finished TV seasons. Most shows have some 5 episodes in the post production pipeline, and maybe a few scripts ready to shoot. But come Jan/Feb 2008, it’s bye bye scripted television, hello news, game and reality shows.
– Canceled new running shows. Good shows with low ratings will never get a chance to grow into surprise hit shows.
– Canceled new upcoming shows. Heroes: Origin seems to be a victim already, put on indefinite hold before scripts have been written (but promised to advertisers a few months ago, to lure in advertisement money for a mid 2008 launch)
– If the strike takes long enough, say goodbye to pilot season. Next year will run on current shows, including the horrible ones that should’ve been axed.

tv test screen

Are you as scared as I am ?

Update: It was unclear what multitalented actors/writers/producers/directors would do during the strike (since their added SGA/DGA allegiance), but big names like J.J. Abrams, James L. Brooks and Tina Fey joined the picket lines, while stars like Jay Leno and Julia Louis-Dreyfus showed up for support.

Update2: Next victim: 24. No 7th season for this TV season (about 1/3 filmed though). Fox bets on safe and moves it to the next TV season.

Review: Pushing Daisies 101 – 104

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

The fall TV season is already in full swing and there haven’t been many surprises on the horizon. Lotsa standard shows going around, offering nothing too special. So, _if_ you churn out something special, you’ll get noticed.
This year it’s Bryan Fuller again (Star Trek: Voyager, Wonderfalls, Dead Like Me), leaving a comfortable producer spot on hit show Heroes to go out and explore, instead of playing it safe and earning a big buck. A little bit of trust from Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black, Wild Wild West, Get Shorty) who exec. produces, and ABC, goes a long way, and a new show is born.
The synopsis is short and rules bound, which I won’t give away just yet. It creates storylines enough to make a series stand, but along with that, you’ll get great and funny story telling, and a bit of character development and relationship evolving finished it off. Watching this brightly colored world filled with exaggerated primary simple shapes gives you an other-wordly experience, while the content is still very much earth-bound. If you want to truly experience something new on your TV set, this is the show to go for this year.

TV Review – Summer roundup

Sunday, September 30th, 2007

With most series premiering this week already, it’s time for a summer roundup. Some shows already had their season finales, some are still in progress.

Psych S2 / Monk S6:
As usual with the USA network, the first half of the seasons aired, with the second half rounding out the beginning of next year. As usual both shows were funny as hell (though for both goes, the season openers were a riot, while episodes after that left you wanting for the same superb quality, but was too hard to reach).

The 4400 S4:
A great season again, with a total different tone than season before. Seems like they manage to make each season very different, but still keep the core story intact, developing characters along the way. And of course, great season finale, as usual.

The Dead Zone S6:
Following the trend of making the beginning and ending interesting, it keeps forgetting the episodes inbetween. But even with that flaw, I’ll be looking forward to season 7

Weeds S3:
Funny and dramatic at the same time, it’s a shame Mary-Louise Parker didn’t win an Emmy. Story continues on both city-wide as well as family level, and strangely enough, soft drugs is still able to be the main push for stories. Addiction alert !

Damages S1:
While the amazing tour de force (mostly Glenn Close’s and Ted Danson’s characters) shown in the first few episodes have died down a bit, it’s still a real treat, drama-wise, and each episode has real gems for moments. All the while, with so many things happening, shocking both sides, you wonder how they will ever continue this for another season, without heads rolling in the superb cast.

Big Love S2:
Another season to prove this family, bound by love, will be around for a while. Family matters continue to be interesting, and the dynamics in this Mormon family is a joy to watch.

The Closer S3:
While they seem to integrate more personal stuff (from Kyra Sedgwick’s character) into the story lines, at best it’s still a formulaic procedural.

Saving Grace S1:
Holly Hunter or not, divine help or not, it has no qualities to make this show stand out head and shoulders above any other show. It’s boring-ish dialogue and story lines, with only a few funny religious jokes now and then doesn’t quite cut it.

All in all, a pretty great summer, with the shows I like all probably greenlighted for a new season, meaning the next summer will be evenly enjoyable. Who needs sun and vacation eh ?

Emmy Awards

Monday, September 17th, 2007

It’s been done, votes have been cast by shady individuals, and the winners are crowned. As with every year, there’s a lot I agree with, and there’s a lot I just can’t get my head around. Here’s what I think:

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series:
Extras • HBO • BBC and HBO Entertainment
Ricky Gervais as Andy Millman

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Boston Legal • ABC • David E. Kelley Productions in association with Twentieth Century Fox Television
James Spader as Alan Shore

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Brothers & Sisters • ABC • ABC Studios
Sally Field as Nora Walker

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
Lost • ABC • ABC Studios
Terry O’Quinn as John Locke

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
My Name Is Earl • NBC • Amigos de Garcia Production in association with 20th Century Fox Television
Jaime Pressly as Joy Turner

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Grey’s Anatomy • ABC • ABC Studios
Katherine Heigl as Isobel ‘Izzie’ Stevens

You can see why I agree with those, all receiving praise in my previous TV reviews, but it’s a short list. Which means, there’s a lot I don’t agree with. Extras was snubbed two other awards, and so was Weeds. Battlestar Galactica, Boston Legal, Heroes, Lost and Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip should’ve won some more too (though they were up against each other for Drama Series). And I still scratch my head, wondering how an awful show as 30 Rock can win the Comedy Series award. Also wondering why there’s a reality show category.
But hurting most of all, is that The Colbert Report missed out on THREE awards. One taken by his Jew rival, Jon Stewart, but no less than TWO were handed over to Tony Bennett ! With last year’s fiasco (losing against another singer, Barry Manilow) still fresh on his mind, Stephen will probably cry his eyes out on-air for a whole week.

Review: Damages 101 – 103

Saturday, August 11th, 2007

Here’s the biggest smashing TV hit (in my opinion) of this summer. Airing on FX, where I don’t watch a lot of shows (The Shield and The Wire bored me a bit, if not irritated me to the bone), those shows are known to push the envelope.
And that’s what you have here. Intrigue, suspense and mostly, characters. Story seems unfolds on flashbacks, but it’s actually the main show. The current time actually moves slowly forward only inch by inch, so the flash-forwards combined with the backstory provide the ultimate kick.
Story surrounds a big media splashing prosecution (think Enron), and we see multiple sides of how it unfolds. Mainly the prosecutor, in the form of Glenn Close, playing one of the most vicious bitch you’ve ever seen (if you think Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada was bad, triple that). Then we have a new associate starting in the prosecutor’s office, and a mysterious bond somehow linking her with the opposite party. Combined is a dark gritty thrillery series, strong on story telling and character development and manipulation. Even if the story was bad, the character would still carry the show, that’s how good it is.