Kimputer's Weblog

The timing of the release of these two new series does raise a few question marks to say the least. It’s either pure coincident, or someone stole the idea from the other. And how fitting both series are about thieves.
Heist found its home at NBC, which is strange, as NBC isn’t known for airing serialised series (rather opting for the cheaper episodic type, making it easier to sell on syndication). As this show works its way to one big heist, there’s only time for general superficial drama. But there seems to be time to develop something good out of this. For now, just because of the bad guy perspective alone, it’s a keeper, but only by a slight margin.
On FX we have the plainly named Thief, which is also a serialised drama, but a little bit darker than NBC’s lil’ brother. Having a slightly sharper edge, just because it’s on cable, still seems to be the rule to live by. Then again, both shows aren’t the glued pants approach that the likes of Prison Break and 24 are taking, offering a more relaxed and leveled adrenaline release.
With 2 episodes, it’s still hard to tell if it’s worth hanging on to, but for now, it fits the schedule.

With a highly irregular airing schedule on the USA network, the fourth season luckily ends so I can focus on the new bunch of TV series. On the downside, Monk has been consistently funny and original, and combined with the short season run, it’s really too bad, as I see no real winners in the new batch yet.

I’ve only touched the surface off the truck load of new series this month, but I can smell abundance weeks ahead of time. This new series, for instance, will not do ABC any good. While procedural and forensic crime shows have already flooding CBS year ago, ABC had none, till now. And it’s a bad copy at it too. Besides that, it feels woody, and overall unoriginal. I’d say, stuff this series in an airtight zip locked evidence bag, and throw it away, as far as you can.

With a 25 hour backlog, it’s that time again. Chopping off chunks of my TV schedule. And I guess this new Fox comedy is along for that cancelation ride. Trying to set it apart by doing a bit of improv, the main story lines aren’t interesting enough to keep it on my busy schedule, and hence, the free ride is over.

It’s the last leg already for TV land, but shows keep rolling out. Jerry Bruckheimer’s second try at the WB, this time with a sitcom. But why oh why a sitcom, the most funny comedies currently on air are just comedies, not sitcoms. I think there actually hasn’t been a solid sitcom since Friends, and this like MANY new ones this year on all networks, is a failure from the start.
It’s three guys with continuous women problem are in therapy with a life-coach (Jane Seymour), and all the predictable weekly “adventures”. Luckily, with the WB and UPN cutting half their shows to form the CW, I’m pretty sure this one is heading to the recycle bin.

A new series on the CBS network, focusing on an elite military unit, working top secret missions. Nothing special there. But they reside on the base, with their families. And that creates enough atmosphere for a continuing B story arch. Still, the attempt to create depth must be applauded, but in the end, somehow, probably due to the writing team, it still feels a bit flat and bland. It’s definitely not must-see material right now, and maybe it never will be. Only time will tell, so only a couple more of these till my final judgement.

It’s that time again. One by one, series will end their seasons, and since BSG got an early start, they will be the first to go on hiatus. And what another phenomenal season it has been. The writers always take a good look at what life is all about, instead of limiting themselves to some formulaic style of storytelling (that alone puts this show in the top 1 percentile range), and then complement it with the mysterious behaviour, of all things, machines. This conflict always leads to unexpected paths, and now that the time has come to unglue yourself from your seat, you can feel anything but sad (at least for a few months, till the series is back again). Wait, that’s what I said last time. And right now, it’s worse. Thinking of the long waiting time for the season 3 premiere actually gives me a fraggin’ and splitting headache.

Mid-season replacement sitcom on CBS, it replaces Out of Practice for the time being. Unluckily, this product seems to be from the same calibre, with empty characters shoving cheap jokes down our throats, followed by the gloating wait for the laugh track. Eventually, it will get on your nerves, instead of unnerving you from day to day stress. Definitely not a keeper.

It’s that time again. Januari, the month that 24 hours starts ticking. It’s actually only since last year the 24 formula was sharpened (and with much success), where it could run weekly without interuption all the way through the season.
As an adrenaline producing pacemaker gone awry, there’s no replacement. Four previous seasons have proven the continuous high paced story twisting writing abilities are very trustworthy (with only some geographical discrepancies here and there, much to any nitpicker’s joy). But seeing how shitty this 5th horrible day Jack is living in, it looks like the writers are on speed or LSD. And only for this instance, I’d say, do drugs, it’s good ! (Really, don’t do drugs if you’re not a producer or writer for 24, ever). In any case, I’ll be training, to keep my ticker in shape for those 20 more heart pounding hours to come.

Ratings may be up (effectively since the move to Thursday), and the series is still good, but it definitely lost its edge. Some episodes are good, but mostly, you have this feeling the characters are going around in circles. Development involves around topics that have been around already. In essence, it dropped from my MUST SEE list down to the VERY GOOD list. A slight drop, but still significant. Let’s see how it rounds off the rest of the season.

The first of the midseason replacement roll-out, it airs on ABC. Last year, similarly titled Blind Justice failed, and this year, a similar fate might await this series (with ratings plummeting after the pilot).
No surprise, it’s another procedural (and less of a legal drama, what the title might suggest), focusing on The Justice Project, which appeals cases where they think someone innocent has been put behind bars. While highly predictable, it’s slightly entertaining for now. A few more episodes following the same formula though, and I just might see what more fits in the recycle bin (just like the even more predictable Close to Home is already in there).

Whoppa, 6 hours down the drain. That Bermuda thing is really evil.
Who would’ve thought with Bryan Singer’s and Dean Devlin’s name on top of it (both exec producers), such a disaster could be the result. Granted, for a 6 hour mini-series on the SciFi chan, a lower budget must be maintained, so a bit of fuzzy special effect shots isn’t something to frown upon. The story, script and overall quality however, is totally below par. Give this mini-series as an unlabeled and uncredited DVD to any random person, and when you ask for it back, he will throw it in your face, if not, make you eat it whole without any organic lubricant.
Character design and interaction, overall acting (with Lou Diamond Phillips as the only exception), outline and design of the story, it’s all puke-quality (and that’s besides the fact that most scifi fans have already seen the conclusion featured in many episodes of several series).

With previous season cut short, and moved over to this season, you really start to wonder. But it was just a strategic move, one that actually made sense. ABC’s hit series has been growing since the very beginning. Continuously evolving relationships, and developing the characters make every new episode stronger and better, despite you liking or disliking certain characters. Being the total opposite of Fox’s House (which is episodic, has only one-dimensional characters _and_ is highly formulaic), these two shows split the audience in perfect halves (since both shows are hits), and I wholeheartedly stand at ABC’s side.

It’s almost taboo, and I haven’t done it since the internet was invented. But it’s really that time. I’m actually deleting downloaded TV eps without watching them. When a 20 GB backlog to work my way through, there just doesn’t seem enough time to decrease that pile of unimportantness (for the must-see TV eps, I _make_ time, of course). So what am I deleting (and scratching off my TV schedule ?):

NCIS
Numb3rs
Ghost Whisperer
Sleeper Cell
Wanted

The reason is obvious, what they all share is too repetitive story telling with no real depth to be seen or expected.
With dozens of episodes each, I at least halved my backlog. If I don’t clear that before January network TV restart (with a few new shows premiering), I’m really cooked.

The first regular to be axed this season, probably after the ratings downfall after the timeslot change. Pairing J.J. Abrams series on the Wednesday night was quite a success, but somehow this year they decided it was time to unpair it. With ratings down, they decide to cut this one lose.
Too bad. It has been a consistently performing series with evenly consistent high grade writing. Every season continued, or introduced a new intrigue, giving every year a different feel. This year was the introduction to a handful of new characters, making it almost feel like season 1. Quality wise, it’s till high, but it’s not the highest one would hope.
With no real hope for the arch-enemies of the past seasons and most of the creativity moving over to Lost, maybe an end isn’t that bad.