Basketball fever, who’s got it?! Ok, no, we didn’t recap any games (we’re not sports journalists and we’re generally unathletic), but it’s a hard thing to escape this time of year. Me, personally? I just like trash talking and gloating when “my” teams win no matter how tenuous my allegiance. How about you? Tell us your NCAA coping mechanisms and thought on this week’s shows in the comments!
Armando
Life: “Challenges of Life” & “Reptiles & Insects”
As I watched these programs, I wondered what it was about these types of shows that intrigue me to no end. People tend to gravitate towards the unknown. This usually leads us to wonder about the universe outside of our planet. Is there anybody out there? If there is, we wonder what they are like. Where would they be? How would they look?
Right in our own backyard here on Earth there are tons of unknown species and deeper information we never see or learn about. This is what drives my enjoyment of these types of programs, and when they are done with the type of depth and commitment the BBC has shown when making docs, the wonderment is even grander.
The film of the kimodo dragon’s attack—and subsequent wait for death—on a pack of water buffalo is fascinating. And how they filmed the insides of a venus flytrap and it’s internal “sensors” is almost as fascinating as watching insects become trapped in it. Even watching the chameleon change colors as he walks on a tree limb and then the slow motion shot of his long tongue catch insects is top notch drama and intrigue.
These camera men spent days, sometimes weeks, filming insects and animals until being rewarded with the drama of how these “aliens” in our own backyard survive and live. This show reminds me that there is drama, intrigue, action and science going on all around us. I sometimes tend to forget that with all of the manufactured drama, intrigue, action and science I tend to feed my brain.
Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it’s nice to be reminded that life is the greatest show on Earth.
American Idol: “Top 12″
I’m pretty much done with this show. It’s been maybe a month since I last saw it. Ellen has thrown such a monkey wrench into the judges panel for me that I just flat out don’t care about anything they say. Other than an occasional Simon comment, or comments on the two singers I want to win, I fast forward and watch only the musical numbers.
The boys this season, not once has any of them done anything even remotely discussion worthy for me. (Ok. Maybe Andrew Garcia’s acoustical rendition of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” was awesome but since then *insert meh here*)
This year the only two contestants I care about are female: Crystal Bowersox and Siobhan Magnus.
Crystal has my vote as the winner. She has a natural stage presence that doesn’t seem can be shaken. I disagree with the judges when they say she comes off arrogant and and has a vibe like she has “this thing in the bag.” (They have her confused with David Cooke. Who just may be, at least gives off the perception of being, the most self absorbed, arrogant person that has have ever graced the AI stage.)
Apparently the judges have an issue with a single mom whose confidence, will and spirit aren’t shaken by the “big lights” and “Hollywood” of the American Idol stage. I applaud her poise. And I love how it kicks the judges and the whole damn show in the teeth.
All that and she is a bad ass singer.
Siobhan, those who know me, know that I love quirky. And if you are quirky, have a quirky style and are a brunette (short hair helps) that can sing well, color me goo-goo gah-gah. (Ask Alanis. She’s my queen). Even though I think Crystal is a slightly better singer, Siobhan’s style plus talent edges her even closer in ranking for me.
Either one is the winner in my book. Everyone else? Meh.
Dennis
30 Rock: “Don Geiss, America and Hope”
Yay, Michael Sheen’s back! Behold him as Liz’s “future husband,” Wesley Snipes (heh. Wesley Snipes)! And he’s given more to do! Like ride his footcycle! And see Hot Tub Time Machine with Liz (ugh, 30 Rock, you’re a hit show now, do you really still require shameless product placement?). And here’s hoping Sheen does indeed show up again for sweeps… er, “spring cleaning.”
Justified: “Fire in the Hole”
I had read a lot about this show before watching the series premiere. Every TV critic in the world appears to be enamored with it, and perhaps because of the hype, I didn’t love it. It was slow in parts (like, well, every western ever). . And I never know quite how to feel about Timothy Olyphant. Did I like him as a pyscho killer in Scream 2? Or as a sort of scary drug dealer in Go? Or as Samantha’s sorta-sweet, sorta-smarmy boss and ex-boyfriend (before being inexplicably recast with Billy Zane) on Samantha Who? Or as Ellen’s mysterious boyfriend last season on Damages? I think I’m used to seeing him as the resident creeper, but here he’s a little bit more of a hero. We’ll see in future episodes if I’m sold on that. I’ll at least keep watching for badass Walton Goggins and former Dirty Sexy Money standout (and quite possibly the most successful person ever on Passions) Natalie Zea.
Parenthood: “The Deep End of the Pool”
After mentioning the show’s premiere in a recent roundtable, I skipped episode two and I’m OK with that. This is bad for a few reasons: It means I could tune in to any given episode of this show and see the same thing happening over and over again. And, it means my show purity OCD has been suppressed already, and my hope for this show is waning fast. I still think there is a good show in here somewhere. Once again, I spent the hour wondering if there was a feesible way the show could write off everyone that wasn’t Lauren Graham, Mike O’Malley, or Sam Jaeger. The whole family did go for a swim in a pool at the end of this episode, for no other reason than to get the entire cast in bathing suits (some more welcome than others, sorry Craig T. Nelson). Maybe next time they can swim in the ocean and a few characters can be lost at sea? There’s another May sweeps hope of mine.
Zoe
House: “Black Hole”
As much as I have Issues with House, I still watch it. But it’s gone from “show I actually pay attention to” to “something nice to have in the background”. And. like most of America, I seem to have lost any interest in the medical drama at all. Until the start doing more than one patient a week, or until the patients start dying more regularly, I really, really don’t care. No, not even when creepy statutory rape is involved.
What, of course, keeps anyone watching the show is the secret, undying hope that House and Wilson will realize their love for each other. And frankly, the show is doing a pretty good job of, um, making them do that without actually making them do that. The show could just get rid of the doctor stuff and become a half-hour sitcom about those two as roommates and I think we’d all be fine.
That said, since ditching Cameron and deciding, at least for this week, that Foreman and 13 barely have to talk (and never to each other!) the House-lites have become interesting. I mean, sure, I have no interest in Taub’s marital strife per se, but I like Taub. And Chase dresses nicely. So, more of that and maybe, just maybe, I’ll start paying attention during episodes.
Community: “Beginning Pottery”
A lot of chatter I have read about this episodes comes down to “eh”, and I do have to agree. Intense and Creepy Jeff is certainly a character best done in small doses, and certainly not for an entire episodes. But that said, the sheer joy and genius of getting to watch Shirley, Britta, Troy, Pierce, and Starburns on that boat more than made up for. I mean, maybe that’s because that includes my favorite characters (marry me, Donald Glover!) or maybe because the idea was more plausible than the main plot. Whatever the case, it saved the episode.