Weekend Rant – Pre-Olympics Blitz

Things have been very busy and I haven't had the time to do much updating, and with the Olympics just around the corner it may be a while before I have time to rant, I love this kind of competition and since it happens only every few years I will be taking in as much as possible.

Here's a quick run down of the past while:

The Good:
I was surprised, shocked, confused, dazed and so pleased with the beginning of the last season of Lost, and really like the new alternate timeline that it has created. The writers were very smart with maintaining all of the plot line with the gang on the the Island, yet showing the results of their time ripple. This whole time-space continuum thing is very confusing and makes your brain hurt, but only in a good way.

The return of Project Runway to New York has brought back the right balance and the gang in the natural habitat. I think this is the last season I want to see Heidi pregnant (the woman is incredible the way she just keeps popping them out) and I hope to see more of the Challenges that take the designers way out of their comfort zone. It's nice to see Michael and Nina there each week.

RuPaul's Drag Race hit the airwaves with all it's ferocious fabulousness and if the first episode is only the tip of the iceberg then I can hardly wait for the rest of the season. As you can see from the image, the first challenge was quite a breezy one with that wind machine and not all the girls were ready to be blown that hard, all in good taste.

Burn Notice is right back on track and the first episodes of this season have been spot on with Michael playing all dark, mysterious, sexy and damn funny. Seeing the Cagney & Lacey reunion was hysterical, but the chemistry between Fiona & Michael is too hot for TV. I love this show.

Caprica has held my attention so far and I really like the story that is developing. Here's hoping that the writing remains strong and the plot development consistent, it could turn into another sleeper hit.

I am hitting myself for not putting Tracey Ullman's State of the Union on my Top Ten list as the show is so damn funny and well done that it deserves more accolades than it is getting. Tracy pulls out the most astounding characters and I love her imitation of celebrities. There should be more with her.

The Bad:
I hope Heroes ties up a lot of loose ends cause this may be their last shot. The writing has been choppy and the plot lines are too stretched and I just want it to end. Such a shame.

The Maybe:
Smallville has been doing some good work, but the JSA themed special was only so-so. The storyline was a tad too overworked, and for big name heroes you would think that people would remember someone like Dr. Fate or Hawkman. My biggest beef was with the Hawkman costume and the crappy effects as the other characters seemed better done. It was still good and I had tons of fun and geeky moments but it was unsatisfying. They really have got to get him into that costume soon.

The Human Target started off okay but I am not sure that I am hooked enough to hang around. I will give it a couple more episodes before making a decision. The character is not enough like the comic book one, and it is not really grooving with me.

Shear Genius started off okay but is still on probation with all the changes that they have introduced this year with a new host, main Judge and mentor. The contestants seem talented and there is attitude for days so it bears further investigation.

Coming Up:
This week I am hyped for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and can hardly wait to see some of my favourites take another shot at the prize. I am pretty sure the Villains will fight amongst themselves and watch for big players like Russell to be eliminated early on. I am pretty sure the biggest threats will self implode early on.

As mentioned earlier, the Olympics are starting! I will be glued to the tube in my spare time watching all the incredible athletes and cheering for the home teams.

Enjoy the games!

Weekend Rant – Starting the New Year

The traffic on the Blog has been pretty high this past week after posting my Top Ten Lists of 2009, and I have to thank those vigilant readers who pointed out a spelling error (correction done –my bad) and who were questioning how and why a certain show (Dollhouse) was on my list yet listed as a disappointment – I have updated that listing with some of my reasoning.

I was honestly surprised by the number of comments that I received (and they are well appreciated thank you, but all comments are private only as I don’t want my Ranting Space turning into a bulletin board) and I was not the least surprised that some people disagreed with some of my choices, it’s pretty normal that what I like may not be your cup of tea. We are all different and I was glad to see that other Supernatural, Bones, Smallville, Better off Ted and Dollhouse Fans were happy to see their favourite show included on the list. All of this new social networking certainly gets word around fast and to repeat myself, I was shocked by the traffic that visited TV Rantings.

This week heralded the return of Chuck, and the first 3 hours this season have been so great that you can only use the word Awesome to describe it. I am really digging the new and improved Intersect V2 and how Chuck can now tap into different abilities and techniques along with all the information that the Intersect can provide. The comedy balance in this show, along with all it’s glorious geekiness makes it such a pleasure to watch and it was fun seeing pretty much all of the regular cast back. There were already a few twists and turns, including the execution of Emmett (RIP nemesis) and the fantastic episode with Captain Awesome getting in on the action and then being taken hostage at the end. I have to say that my heart jumped for a minute and I thought that they had killed Awesome off but then was quickly relieved when I saw the promo for the next episode. This show better get more of a pick up, it is way better than Heroes and I love how all the episodes are still following the original theme and this time around it was Chuck vs. The Pink Slip; The Three Words and The Angel de la Muerte. Great stuff all around and welcome back Chuck!

Here in the Great White North (aka Canada), we got treated to a new series by the hilarious Kids in the Hall, called Death comes to Town. All of the original cast is back and they are all doing multiple characters as Death visits the sleepy little town of Shuckton. Scott Thompson is hilarious as Heather Weather, the local weather personality trying to get ahead in her career before it’s too late, Dave Foley is playing Marilyn Bowman, wife of the sleazy Mayor and mother to a “special child” and is as hilarious as ever, while Mark McKinney is the most disturbing Grim Reaper that you have ever seen. Bruce McCulloch is playing the Mayor but is even funnier as Ricky, the morbidly obese ex town hero who is house bound and apparent target of the Grim Reaper, and Kevin MacDonald plays another bizarre yet memorable character with his fuzzy headed Marnie, who seems to be suffering from short term memory loss and is the local pizza delivery driver. All of the guys are doing an amazing job and I hope it is a sign that they may come back and do another series. Since this is Canada, there is some subject matter and words that would probably not make it by the censors (I think the  Free Kittens with every Abortion sign at the town’s Abortion Clinic would be raked across the coals down south) but I can only imagine that it will be not long before it is picked up by one of the American stations.There will be even some guest appearances by some of their biggest characters, and I can only hope to see Head Crushing Man, The Chicken Lady or Buddie Cole.  It’s great to see the Kids back after all this time and the first episode had really high ratings, let’s hope it continues.

Project Runway returned (already?) and is back in New York and feels more like old times than the last season in LA. It’s nice to see Heidi (pregnant again, the woman is a baby factory) and Tim back together with Nina and Michael and I hope they are all there for the whole season. The last run fell flat with the absence of the two Queen bitches, and if the first episode is any indicator of how good this season will be with the talent seen in the first round, then this will be a good season and I hope to see some kick ass designs. I have to admit that I was really impressed by the winning design (congratulations to Emilio) but some of the other designers fell flat. As far as favourites go, I have been smitten with Ben Chmura since he was a comic book artist, and that always gains points with me, and I just love Ping Wu, who is a way out of the box designer that is so different than the others that you can not help but be fascinated. Here’s hoping this is a better round.

I have caught the first few episodes of So you think you can Dance U.K.? hosted by Cat and Nigel heading the Judges. It’s is pretty much like the other versions, all thought the audition process was done quickly and there is an odd number of couples to start with. It is a bit odd that the results air the same day as the Vote, so it looks like voting is very limited and if I understand how the phones work over there very expensive if you are not with the right service. The dances have been good so far so I will be keeping that on my radar for the next while.

In this week of laughter, I enjoyed all of the show but have to say that I really enjoyed the latest episodes of Better off Ted, showing that a typo can lead to a very nasty workplace and that guilt is just another one of those annoying emotions that can be doused with other emotions like sugar or alcohol. The Veronica Palmer character is hilarious and Portia de Rossi steals the show with her deadpan delivery of script that is scathingly funny. I love those comedie noire characters.

This week I am looking forward to checking out Human Target as it was a comic book that I used to read and I loved the Christopher Chance character, and I would be silly to not see check out the new series Spartacus: Blood and Sand that will be airing on Friday and looks a lot like that slightly homoerotic but not at all gay film 300. I love me a Gladiator and am thrilled that Lucy Lawless is in the series. There is also the prequel to Battlestar Galactica, Caprica that looks worth checking out. I am not expecting it to be able to fill the void left by BSG, but if it is an interesting enough diversion it may sway me back towards my ScyFy Fridays. I haven’t been watching much from ScyFy since the Stargate series started to suck.