Sunday, November 16, 2008

Weekend Rant - Emotional Roller coaster

Talk about an emotional roller coaster of a week on the tube. Things started off great with (finally) the elimination of our Divorced girls (with way too much baggage) from the Amazing Race and an interesting episode of Desperate Housewives that brought some stories around full circle and showed some new guest stars ( I love Lily Tomlin) and you know that it is all on the verge of hitting the fan.

Later in the week, the departure of Maurice from Dancing with the Stars was kind of predictable but I was screaming at home when my faves Lance & Lacey got through to the next round. I can't believe that Julianna was back to dance (wow) and loved seeing Lacey with Benji. I can't believe how much exposure some of the So you think you can Dance? participants are getting and it's so nice to see some fun dance numbers on the show. I am glad that Cody survived to get his partner back, and this week will show who if he is really a contender or the next to go. I preferred the dance solo part of the competition to the crappy team thing they did last week.

This week there was a great episode of Heroes (neatly renamed Villains for this round) that used the Lost flashback method to show why some of our characters are evil. While I applaud the occasionally use of the flashback method I hope that Heroes is not moving in that direction as I can't handle having too many shows that are either in the past or future instead of the now. Mama Petrelli is such a fascinating character (and not quite as Villainous as she seems to be portrayed) and I am really liking her character development. I loved seeing how some of the characters are related (and have similar powers) and the interaction with Linderman. The story is nice and complicated, is getting very interesting and I can hardly wait to see how Hiro saves himself with that big cliffhanger ending.

South Park made me laugh my ass off this week with their spoof of High School Musical that was ridiculously funny, and was probably the funniest episode so far in this season. The writing is still good but I haven't been gobsmacked by any episodes until now. The South Park gang needs to have at least one musical episode per season and I am still hoping for a great Holiday themed episode this year but it probably won't happen with the season finale around the corner.

Smallville continued one of it's better seasons and although I did like seeing the Brainiac storyline move forward , I hate the idea that Chloe is no longer in on Clark's super secret, and am really crossing my fingers and hopefully that will change and become just a bad idea. It was cute to see Clark and Chloe as kids and sharing their first kiss, even if Chloe knew from even that early time that they were intended to only be friends. We know the storyline is not over after seeing Brainiac take over the Fortress and got some new information about Doomsday (handy things those Kryptonian symbols) and the apparent link with our bad computer and Paramedic guy Davis. We will have to see how weepy it all gets next week with Chloe's wedding, Lana will be there and maybe we can see a cat fight between her and Lois for Clark.

There was another outstanding episode of Supernatural that has me on the edge of my seat with the conflict between the Angels and Demons. I love the storyline with our reluctant psychic who hears Angels, and appears to be a liability for the "good" side and needs to be silenced. Those archangels are pretty Rambo about things and don't think twice about the "greater good" and it makes for some pretty heavy stuff ... getting to see the flashbacks with Sam (and the development of his relationship with Ruby and her current body) explained some of his behaviour and filled in some gaps (and gave us a hot peak at his bod -- someone has been working out) and the big ending to this week's and sneak peek at next week certainly have my attention. There is some really good writing on the show this season.

Things were great on the last episode of Survivor: Gabon and I knew that Charlie was not going to be heartbroken if he got eliminated and sent off to the Ponderosa with bromance Marcus. If you check out the Ponderosa on the CBS Survivor site you can see our happy couple together and even planning their outfits together for their next appearance as the Jury.

As far as the game goes ... Sugar is really running things more than people realize (and it seems that there is some sort of collective amnesia that makes everyone forget that she has the Individual Immunity Idol) but I have to applaud Bob on his fake out Immunity Idol that he put together that may let him bluff his way out of a situation if used on the right people. It was great work and I can't get over how well he is playing.. he may be the guy to sneak through now that things have merged and there are less and less big physical threats. I am really enjoying seeing the show in HD and loved the reward visit to the village. The show is such a visual treat and this location in Gabon has been astounding.

Of course for all the good there had to be some sort of cosmic balance so I was then hit with the bad news that at least one but more thank likely a couple of my favorite shows are finishing up.

Pushing Daisies has not been picked up for more than it's initial order of 13 episodes, and my heart is breaking with the thought of yet another visual opus disappearing off the airwaves. I love Bryan Fuller's work and hope and pray to see more or at least the ending that he envisioned for his characters. Rumor has it that he may even consider doing a film or comic book to tie things up if necessary.


I can't believe that Fox is cancelling MAD tv after all these years, and think that their excuse of production costs to be complete bullshit. MAD tv has been one of my Saturday night staples for 14 years and has had some amazing comedic talent that have made their presence know on TV via the show. I really hope that one of the other networks will jump on it as viable competition for SNL and keep it on the air. This bad news was a downer on my week and I really hope it's only a bump on the road.