Review: Sweepstakes

With the February sweepstakes over, I can honestly say, that there were no highlights, unlike the last November sweepstakes. Let’s recap:

Traffic: The miniseries – Aired in January, and on cable, technically, it has nothing to do with the sweepstakes. But it’s the only memorable series. Being a 6 hour miniseries, it doesn’t really start kicking in during the second hour. The story then still seems a bit boring, but the way of storytelling, and how it combines the seperate storylines keeps it interesting. From the producer of 24, you can see some similarities, and that’s not a bad thing. In the end, you feel it’s a full story with enough depth and content worth every penny of the cable subscription.

CSI (up to 416) – Continuing with seperate standalone stories, and second to none involving personal matters, it’s good at what it’s doing. But it could be so much better. While there have been better times with darker, more personal styled episodes with a touch of a longer story arch, one can only hope for a return.

Smallville (up to 316) – Weird to say this, but somehow the stories seem a bit far fetched and out of character, it’s still the B stories that count. Again, with short periods where both the A and B stories were rock solid, one can only hope they’ll be back soon.

Navy NCIS (up to 115) – Half a season done, it’s clear where this series will be heading. Another standalone type. And again, it could be so much better. With a more than a handfull of episodes already, and you still don’t know the characters at all. Trying to keep it lighthearted, with jokes and one liners flying around, there seems to be nothing that much at stake everytime. But still, it’s fun enough to keep watching.

24 (up to 314) – With a good start, the second quarter seemed a bit off. Somehow, it seemed like there wasn’t enough at stake, both overall and personal. Now well past its first half I can see a clear rebound, and I’m certain I’ll be glued to the chair till this day is over again.

Enterprise (up to 317) – With the last review saying I saw improvement, I can honestly say I almost forgot what the last two episodes were about. So it’s a safe bet those were probably another pair of recycled stories with a lot of cliches.

Tru Calling (up to 112) – While you can see the last few episodes are finally trying to be a bit different, the character development is still slow. Just a few more episodes, and I will know for certain if this series will make it or break it.