The MikeCam

My brothers and I bought my dad the first season of The West Wing for his birthday last week. Watching (or in the case of some episodes, re-watching) it has reminded me how much I like this show whenever I catch an episode. It’s smart, well-written, and backed up by a stellar cast and great direction. Not only that, but the quest of the Bartlett White House and of the individuals in it for right is truly inspiring.

Saw a rerun of a Nash Bridges episode on USA the other day. It’s been a while, but it reminded me of how much I loved that show. It’s one of the few shows I’ve ever watched regularly, and it’s a great mix of action, comedy and drama. Definitely check it out if you see a rerun on.

*sigh*, not everything I had hoped for. Last week’s finale for Lost kept me interested, but really revealed almost nothing new, sadly. In fact, I can summarize the entire episode in two sentences: They got the hatch open. The “others” took the boy, Walt. And that was it. We didn’t find out what was in the hatch, we basically learned nothing new about the Others, and it basically just raised more questions. Like how do the others have a fishing boat and fisherman costumes? What did they see looking into the goddamn hatch? What happens to Sawyer and the others after he gets shot? Do all dogs go to heaven? What happens next???

Just watched the pilot episode of Firefly tonight, and it was fantastic. Easily the best sci-fi show I’ve seen in a long time. I’m loving the combination of wild west and outer space, they’re pulling it off very well. Firefly was a sci-fi series on Fox that got messed up and cut short by the network. There is a full season DVD available with episodes in their intended order (as opposed to their air order) and a movie in the works, to be released September 30th. The trailer looks sweet.

Lukewarm scripts, tepid jokes – yesterday I watched the first two episodes of The Office and I don’t plan to watch any more. Interestingly, though, it seems to take place in Scranton, Pennsylvania, which is where some of my family lives. Also, I’ve heard the British version is better…

I just watched the premiere of this show and it was simply the best episode of television comedy that I have seen in a long time. It had heart, honesty, and was genuinely funny. Not only that, but it had a certain feel-good quality that went right along with me laughing my ass off.

Watched the premiere of this new television series following a group of surgical interns in their residency and enjoyed it. It didn’t blow me away, but I liked the dynamics between the characters and the fact that they’re all interns. Didn’t like their forced emphasis on calling it “the game,” but I did think the acting and direction was pretty good. I’ll watch it a couple more times and see if I continue to like it. I also like the title, which is a play on the main character’s name and the seminal medical textbook of the same name (but with an A, bah).

Current recording list, incidentally:
Arrested Development
24
Project Greenlight
Lost
South Park
8 Simple Rules
Inside the Actors Studio
UEFA/MLS/World Cup qualifier/Premiere League soccer games
and now Grey’s Anatomy, of course.

Interesting tidbit from IMDB: Patrick Dempsey, who plays Dr. Shepherd (you know him from Sweet Home Alabama), “At the time of his first marriage he was 21 and his bride was 48.” Yuck.

I enjoyed the mini-series and the beginning of this season’s full-length series. That said, it’s begun to go downhill: last night’s episode in particular was pointless at best.

First off, I have no qualms with Starbuck being a woman. It’s different, to be sure, and I miss the old Starbuck, but I think Katee Sackhoff pulls it off well – most of the time – and I do like it to a certain extent just because it is different. This last episode, however, did not need to be made, and that is no fault of Starbuck’s. Yes, we understand that the Commander and Captain Adamas are upset about Zak and Starbuck’s role in his death. Yes, we understand that they are human and can be blinded by emotion and feelings. But no, we did not need to see an entire episode about that, an entire hour where they can apparently be so blinded that they don’t realize they are putting all of humanity at risk. This could have been a subplot of some other episode condensed into less time and less stupidity so that they aren’t made out to be such raging idiots. And what the hell is with Helo on Caprica? Could we start seeing some relevance to that plotline? You had some good ideas, now get some better writers. I thank you… *steps off soapbox*