Warm Glowing Warming Glow

Veronica Mars Death Watch

I'm pretty happy with how Veronica Mars wrapped up the Dean O'Dell murder mystery last night.  The episode itself was really strong: the Veronica-Tim team-up/duel was a highlight and the plot twists moved through just quickly enough.  The writers performed some pretty impressive sleight-of-hand, making a reveal that I think many viewers had predicted seem startling.

Of course no one else is watching, which is frustrating.  I'm resigned to losing the show at the end of this season.  Michael Ausiello has me reconsidering that, though, here.   This is the pertinent paragraph:

"Ausiello: I just e-emailed Mars' main man Rob Thomas for an update, and here's what he wrote back: 'We're very much on the fence for a fourth season. My amateur handicapping of our situation — 60/40 in our favor. We are shooting the finale as a season finale — not as a series finale. There will be no alternate. If they do try to get rid of us, we're not going to make it easy for them.' I gotta tell ya, there are few things in life I enjoy more than a juicy Rob Thomas soundbite."

"I've been controlling animals since I was six."

Another week of Sweeps stunts:

24.  Wow.  James Cromwell is a bastard.  "Don't make me murder my grandson."  That's the most passive-aggressive threat ever.  Kind of a thrilling chase at the end, with Milo and DoomedSisterInLaw. 

Heroes.  Eh.  Felt like reading water until next week, when, according to the NBC promotions monkeys, "Someone's going to fly, someone's going to die."  I'm trying to think if we learned anything new or saw anything cool.  Oh, Sylar can now melt pots and pans.  That was cool.  Jessica as member of the Linderman equivalent of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad was kind of fun, although it got less fun when Parkman survived being thrown out a window. 

Gilmore Girls.  Chris and Lorelai . . . I wasn't really paying attention during their final break-up scene, because I was listing all the lost opportunities in my head: I think it was a serious mis-step to give Emily that speech about how Lorelai has to learn to compromise if she wanted to save her marriage and then never pay that off.  Rory and Logan . . . I was hoping they were going to play Rory's crush on the T.A. a little differently.  I'm still waiting for Logan to be revealed as the philanderer we all kind of know he is.  Maybe the Rosenthal regime likes Logan?  I still find him smarmy.

Veronica Mars. Well, hell.  A week in which Veronica doesn't do anything completely atrocious.  That alone was an improvement.  Plus, we had some serious progress in the Dean Begley, Jr. mystery.  Plus, an interesting A-plot, although I'm going to be sad next week when we learn that pretty, pretty Josh murdered his father.  Not enough Wallace, either: couldn't we have excised a few scenes of Logan getting life lessons from Little Girl God?

Lost.  Slept through, which is too bad, because it sounds like it was a good one?  Stuff happened?  Should I give it another chance?

Ugly Betty.  Another good episode: some funny stuff from Michael Urie, Mark Indelicato and Becki Newton, continuing excellent handling of the Alex/Alexis subplot, good mix of subplots overall.  I wonder if the network is giving the producers notes about how often Eric Mabius has to be shirtless.  Otherwise, I don't understand his story last night.  Oh, right -- stuntcasting!  Lucy Liu is still kind of lost on me.  On the other hand, Jerry O'Connell was pretty good as the homophobic jackass. 

The O.C.  I totally fell for every minute of that.  I mean, not so much Taylor being helpless and stupid, and not so much Kirsten and Sandy's sense of entitlement, but Julie and Kaitlin bonding in the midst of adversity?  Yes.  Ryan appearing to be about to bleed out for the entire freaking hour?  Oh God.  You know, it's the penultimate episode, so I really kind of half thought that they could kill Ryan off.  Really effective, and the meta-stuff was kind of fun, and the trip down memory lane.  Seth trading the Range Rover for the shopping cart was a nice touch and good foreshadowing of decimation of the Cohen mansion. 

The Office.  This was maybe the best episode of the year?  Jim as a vampire?  Steve Carell channeling Ricky Gervais as a motivational speaker?  Creed?  I think any episode that has Creed in it, at all, is automatically really funny.  -- Peter

This Guy Likes Clown Porn

We're already a full week into Sweeps.  Consequently, we're getting "events" (disasters, gun fights, hostage situations, etc.) in lieu of episodes, for our dramatic television shows.  I'm just about caught up, and have some things to say.

Prison Break.  I picked the wrong week to skip, apparently.  Michael and Sara back together?  Sara beating up on Kellermann?  I would have liked to have seen both of those things. 

Heroes.  Dear Jeff Zucker, congratulations on your promotion.  Now, please fire the people who put together the promotional clips for this show, because they suck.  I hate that, week after week, we get the entire episode sketched out for us, during the first minute.  This week alone, those jackasses ruined two potentially suspenseful plot points: the confrontation between Sylar and Horn-Rimmed Glasses and the revelation of Claire's paternity.

24.  After a few boring weeks, I feel like we're back on track.  Yeah, the revelation of who's really behind Graem was heavily, heavily telegraphed, and I also don't really care about where that story's going.  On the other hand, McCarthy nabbing Morris is promising. 

Gilmore Girls.  A pretty dour episode, but not bad.  I actually mis-read the Emily ghoul/loving wife flip-flop they pulled and felt a little ripped off by it.  Kelly Bishop really rocked the whole episode, though.  Chris has completely devolved in -- what?  -- two episodes?  That reads as a little fast for my tastes, although I'm also completely ready for the Luke-Lorelai reconciliation, which says something : at the end of last season, I was ready to give up on Luke.  Meanwhile, when are we going to get the rug pulled out from under us with Logan?  I still don't trust him, but time is running out. 

Veronica Mars.  Two episodes in a row in which Veronica does something really, really bad: last week, it was blackmailing that judge, this week it was ordering Madison's car stolen.  I want Wallace to come back -- from wherever he is -- and kick her ass. 

Lost.  Less boring than I was expecting.  I liked the Juliet flashbacks.  Did anyone else notice that she was married to Edmund Burke?  First we had Locke, then Rousseau . . . How long until we meet Desmond's friend Frank Voltaire?

Ugly Betty.  Holy crap.  Best episode yet.  I can't believe how deftly they're handling the Alex/Alexis plot twist.  It's not just how cleverly and sensitively they're doing the gender reassignment subplot, it's how perfectly they're pacing the show right now.  It's rare to see a show where a fast pace and sensationalist storylines are balanced with character stuff, at all, let alone this well.  Michael Urie gets better and better, too. 

The O.C.  This is an example of bad pacing.  Just give us the damned earthquake already.  Oh, but the Kaitlin stuff was really good -- funny, not too tedious (unlike the Taylor-Ryan stuff), and well-acted.  -- Peter

Club Club

Not much going on today.  New Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars last night, both pretty good. 

On the former, it turns out that now the only storyline I care about is Luke's fight to get custody of April, a sure instance of the Willa Holland Phenomenon.  I really don't care about Lorelai's continued unwillingness to grow the fuck up.  The Lane pregnancy is only so-so -- most of that subplot was annoying last night, but the scene with Zack and the grocery bags was actually very affecting.  Keiko Agena's fat suit looks really weird and fake, which is distracting.  Please stop me from saying something harsh about the actress who plays (actresses who play?) G.G.  Trying to stop on my own . . . the "cookies made from scratching" bit was actually funny.

Veronica Mars was a Mac episode, which is great.  I think, based on interviews Rob Thomas gave about the first two seasons, the problem is money: Thomas is only budgeted for a certain number of episodes for most of the so-called regulars -- hence not much of Mac or Weevil, no Wallace last night .  . .  Anyway, last night was light-weight but enjoyable.  Glad that Mac got the cute PHAT guy -- I actually pegged the lab boy as Mac's love interest.  By the way, Tina Majorino is really good on Big Love, opposite Amanda Seyfried (aka Lilly Kane) -- weird that Majorino and Seyfried never shared scenes on Veronica Mars.

New Friday Night Lights tonight . . .   

Come Back, TV!

Television is starting to trickle back from this long hiatus around Christmas.  I thought it might be helpful to start trying to keep track of when we can expect new episodes of important shows:

Sunday, January 14: 24.  Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.  Kiefer's beard looks suitably grody.  (Remember, we've got two whole hours on Sunday and then two more on Monday.)  Spoiler Alert: This season's day begins at 6:00 AM, possibly Eastern Time and Chloe might have a new hairstyle.  That's all we know.  Also tonight: Brothers & Sisters, for what it's worth.  Tonight's episode begins Jason Lewis's arc as a closeted soap star/love interest for Kevin. 

Monday, January 15: More 24.  Also, the Golden Globes, which -- huh.  I had no idea they were already here.  Another spoiler: because they are on NBC, no one will watch them.

Thursday, January 18: The Office, My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty and The O.C. are all new. 

Sunday, January 21: Battlestar Galactica returns!  The new episode is entitled "Rapture," which is scary, because remember, when last we left off, Adama was going to nuke the crap out of everything in order to keep the Cylons away from that McGuffin that has something to do with everyone finding their way to Earth.  Meanwhile, on Brothers & Sisters, Marion Ross does what she does best -- stink up the joint as a difficult matriarch.

Monday, January 22: Prison Break returns and so does Heroes.  Prison Break will be picking up the whole lame conspiracy/Terrence Steadman non-murder non-mystery.  Christopher Eccleston joins Heroes.

Tuesday, January 23: Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars are both back.  Gilmore Girls is a Christmas episode, apparently.  The Hell?  I guess we're skipping over Rory's Christmas in London with Logan, despite all the anvils being dropped this spring about the Orbit girl.  Veronica Mars is a Mac episode (yay!) as well as -- duh -- the beginning of the Ed Begley, Jr. murder mystery. -- Peter 

I Hate Anna Nardini

Am I the only one who's actually sort of enjoying this season of Gilmore Girls?  Most of the commentaries I've read have suggested that the magic has gone.  I couldn't disagree more, and I think that last night's episode was an example of all that's going right this season.  We had some very funny throw-away bits, such as Paris and Doyle's hip hop dancing and the 2002 party.  We had an unusually palatable Liz/T.J. subplot.  The Knitathon subplot was a surprisingly deft bit of Stars Hollow wackiness (about which more in a minute).  Most importantly, we finally, finally, finally got to see Luke stand up to that dickslap Anna Nardini.

Anna has been a nightmare from the beginning.  She's basically all of Lorelai's worst qualities, only sanctimonious and joyless.  This week's  passive-aggressive (and then aggressive-aggressive) douchebaggery was just the latest atrocity and thank God, we finally got to see Luke get angry with her.   So that was fun.

I also wanted to say some more about the Knitathon.  I thought that that story, in fact the entire Christopher/carpetbagger plot, really sums up Stars Hollow.  Stars Hollow is very tolerant of certain people -- Lorelai, Luke, Kirk, Taylor -- but that tolerance is not extended beyond a certain point nor to everyone.  I think that Lorelai is exactly like this as well -- note her rules for film-watching, for instance.

Also last night was the finale to the rape mystery on Veronica Mars.  I thought it was pretty inept.  As with the entire arc, there were things I liked, but it felt rushed and a little predictable.   I'm hoping the next arc is better.
-- Peter

Boom Goes the Dynamite

I'm still lumbering through the premiere season, but I'm getting tired.  Last night:

Gilmore Girls.  Another fairly strong episode from Buffy veteran Rebecca Rand Kirshner.  Still no sign of Kelly Bishop, so as far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on whether or not the show can thrive under David Rosenthal.  But the Lorelai stuff last night was very good.  Way, way too much of Michael DeLuise but I think that even under the Palladinos, he was a character who inspired blind rage, rather than mirth.  (Maybe that's what they were going for?)  The Lane-Zack Mexico bits could have been funnier.

Veronica Mars.  A solid premiere.  Not sure how I feel about the new, grittier opening credits sequence.  I think I like it, though.  Good balance of light and dark -- the A-mystery was fun and bubby, while the revelations of the last few minutes established we're still watching the same show.  I think Chris Lowell is going to be just fine as Duncan 2.0 (giving him Duncan's ugly sweaters was a nice touch).

Friday Night Lights.  Jesus may love football, but I don't.  I did like the eponymous film on which this show is based, though, so I was an easy sell for this show.  I'm not sure I can keep watching it week after week, though.  The camera stuff and the overlapping dialogue require just a little more concentration than I think I can muster week after week -- I've already got The Wire.   

Tonight brings us The Nine, the one about the bank robbery hostage situation, with the flashbacks and everything.   It's supposed to be good.  Plus the return of Lost, plus the Project Runway reunion, plus Jericho and Kidnapped.

Dick Casablancas in a Speedo

The Futon Critic has really good recaps of television panels at Comic-Con.  The Veronica Mars transcript is especially interesting -- not too many spoilers, but some interesting casting news. 

Project Guttenberg

I don't know why I find the idea of Steve Guttenberg pitching a show called Jew Fever so funny:

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-presstournotes,0,6851593.story

You have to scroll most of the way down.  If you're reading about Gene Simmons and Shannon Tweed in an Osbournes knock-off (why now?), you're not quite there. 

A Kilo of Pickles

Last night was one of the best nights TV and I have spent together in a long time.  First off, we had a really encouraging episode of Gilmore Girls.  There was a good mix of funny and poignant, the characters felt right, the guest cast was good.  I sort of tuned out during the Luke subplot, but other than that it was solid.

Veronica Mars has hit the point -- I vaguely remember this happening last year as well -- where it's so good it's making me unhappy.  I cannot stand the suspense anymore.  I cannot wait for next week, for the resolution of the bus crash mystery.  Oh, also, I wish I had posted my theory on that weeks ago, because I was right.  I thought that Woody (Steve Guttenberg) was not only the "outing of the century" Peter Ferrer (Luke Frydenger) was promising but was going to be the penultimate solution to the crash mystery.  No, I don't think Woody blew up the bus and actually, I have no good theories about who did.  There are so many loose threads yet to be tied up and have been for so long that it's hard for me to tell which questions have and which have not been answered.  What about Meg's ghost (Alona Tal) telling Veronica (Kristen Bell) that she has something important to say?  Was it that Meg knew about Lucky (James Jordan) and Woody or did she have some other crucial piece of information? 

(Even more suspenseful than the show: we have two weeks to wait until the upfronts.  These are, you know, the presentations the networks give to advertisers and the press, to introduce fall lineups.  As far as I know, CW has not yet picked up Veronica Mars.  I don't know if they've even made a decision.  So I'm sick with worry.) 

After Veronica Mars, I was useless for anything but pacing my living room, cursing Sheriff Lamb (Michael Muhney).   So I was unable to turn away from the Dynasty reunion, Catfights & Caviar, on CBS.  It was perfect: a good mix of awkward, scripted "banter" between Linda Evans and Joan Collins and tons of clips.  I got really sentimental for Dynasty, the shlockiness of which seems really winning, in contrast to the variety of slick schlock we get now.  What I forgot was just how endless those Krystle-on-Alexis catfights were.  That's funny.  Nicollette Sheridan throwing down with Hooters waitresses on Desperate Housewives is about just as cynical as those were, but somehow it's not funny.  -- Peter