Weekend Rant - First Casuality of the New Season

Things started off to a pretty luke warm start with the New 90210 this past week, and with the ton of new shows coming on air over the next while my Tuesday nights are starting to get filled up with better viewing options. I think I may know why there wasn't a preview of the show before airing ... the writing is pretty crappy and the none of the characters particularly memorable other than the alcoholic Grandmother.

So bye bye 90210 -- it was a short visit, but my 2 hours with you weren't that interesting and I was never really a fan of the original series. I did want to see what they were doing with Jenny Garth and Shannon Doherty, and if that was any reflection of their original characters, then I don't think I am missing much.

For every bad thing that hits the airwaves (Bionic Woman anyone?), there is almost always something good that comes around and after enduring 2 hours of 90210, karma paid me back with a very nice 2 hour season opener of Bones. Booth and Brennan may be in London, England, but we still had great follow up to the end of last season and all the team was there. I liked the mention of Zach at the beginning, and was laughing at seeing Clark filling in the spot covered by Zack. Clark doesn't take well to all the drama going on around the Jeffersonian,and he makes a great "straight man" character to offset the other wacky ones.

The issue of Zack working with Gormogon was mentioned, and I don't believe that storyline is finished with. There are still too many unanswered questions, and seeing Sweets and the brain (and his insistence to touch it and to prod it a few times) set off more alarms with me. I am still convinced that he is involved in all of this (and might even be the new Gormogon for all we know) and I'll be keeping my eye on him. His interaction with the Squints was priceless this week and I can hardly wait to see him more in action with Booth and Brennan again. Those 3 have some very funny chemistry between them.

Brennan and Booth in London was a hoot, I loved seeing their British counterparts (nicely swapped around gender wise) and the chemistry between Brennan and Professor Ian Wexler. It looks like Booth is a little jealous about the idea of Bones hooking up with our sexy professor and it makes for some nice tension between our characters. Sexy seemed to be a key word in the season opener with Angela's husband Grayson Barasa showing up and attracting every one's attention (Cam in particular, that very lucky girl) and putting some major sexual tension into the episode.

Bones hasn't lost it's beat at all, in fact the chemistry and zingers were hitting left and right last night and even the simple things like driving (Booth is less adaptive it seems to UK rules) and the whole freak out ugly American scene was a riot. The whole British slant on everything and seeing more about the upper crust was very eye opening. The whole "The Butler did it" bit was brilliant. It was a tad overkill to have to kill off the Professor as well, but the story lines were interesting and there was some nice development with pretty much everyone except for Angela and Hodges. I am not too happy with their apparent break up (especially after the most awesome kiss and the hundreds of bells scene) and hope this is just a bump in the road on their way to matrimony. Still... it's nice to have old friends come back home and it was a great season opener.

Weekend Rant - Launching the Fall Season

The big long weekend is here and it heralds the beginning of the new Fall season. This is probably the time of the year that I appreciated Fox the most, as they (and the CW) are starting their seasons earlier in September and getting a step up on the other networks.

I hate waiting until October to see the new shows -- and after the strike last year (the great disaster of 2007) and all the abbreviated seasons with the shows, I am ready for a whole complete glorious season of my faves.

Bones is one of my Top Ten favorite shows and this Wednesday they are back with a 2 hour season opener. I love the chemistry between Booth and Brennan and all of the supporting cast are just incredible. The big season opener takes our team to London which sounds like fun, but I would just love to see them come to Montréal where the print version of Bones takes place. That will probably never happen as they seem to have really anchored her character in DC but it could make for an interesting variation at some point and an homage to the books. I will be like a kid in a candy store come Wednesday night.

There will be no Prison Break on the schedule this year. I took it off the Watch List last year after way too many gaping plot holes (bad writing will never win me over) and after missing one season I have no interest at all ... just the commercials alone for the new season have turned me off and that says a lot as I usually will watch anything with a couple of hot brothers like those 2 but there is no hope in hell this time around.

The new version of 90210 will be hitting the airwaves this week as well and I will be checking it out just to see how things look. I was never a big fan of the original, but do like some of the actors ( like Shannon Doherty -- who I loved in Charmed and like her bad ass sensibility) and am curious to see where they go with it. I was hoping for Tori Spelling to return ( I have loved Tori since she did the film Trick and have kept up with her show Tori and Dean: Home sweet Hollywood on Oxygen), but that doesn't seem like it will be happening. It's a real shame as 90210 is as Spelling as you can get. Maybe some one will see the light and give her a cameo as she deserves with some decent pay. It's a shame her mom is being such a twit about things .... she probably could have bank rolled the entire production and I hate all that stupid rich family drama. Tori seems to be a better mom but with all the stress and drama it will be interesting to see how her kids turn out in about 16 years. Hopefully Tori will be back for another season on Oxygen but I don't see the need to keep having babies.

Project Runway continued it's up and down season with an interesting product placement Challenge (can you say Saturn?) and I do like it when the designers get to play with unconventional materials... but Keith was such a downer the whole episode that I was glad when he was sent home. Sure he was great to look at, but his aesthetic was not that interesting and he was such a drama queen about being in the bottom 2 last week. I was shocked that Stella did not as well ( I thought this was the kind of challenge that she could excel in) and was relieved that she sews again for yet another week. This is probably a good example of designers not following their instincts or doing something to try to please the judges instead of doing what feels right. I was surprised that Laura was there to fill in for Nina (can anyone really replace Nina?) and it was great to see Rachel Zoe. Yes,I know it was more shameless Bravo promotion for The Rachel Zoe Project but I had already decided to check out the series after hearing the quote about her "flipping on her bitch switch" in the promos. Leanne impressed the hell out of me and she made a very interesting dress from car parts. Korto and Jerell also did some great work and thankfully there is some talent mixed in with the drama. I have never felt so bi polar about a season of Project Runway before and am convinced it is the mix of designers and underlying tension between the production staff and the big Bravo big wigs that has it feeling tainted in some way... there is something off this season and I still can't put my finger on it .. yet.

If I don't catch an episode of Outsiders Inn on CMT this weekend I think I will explode. I can not say that I am a glutton for punishment but just hearing the names Bobby Brown, Carnie Wilson and Maureen McCormick (Marcia, Marcia,Marcia) in the same breath sucks me in to the dark abyss we call Guilty Pleasures and I know this is one train wreck that I have to get a look at. Bobby has not been around much since his last reality show (and damn do I miss Whitney and her wacky antics -- Bobbaaaaaaaaaaaaay) and now that he is out of prison and flying solo I am sure there will be lots of fun and games. I find it kind of funny how some of the different Brady kids are still making their presence know on the tube (even after all these years) with Bobby, Cindy and Marcia all being on different reality shows in the past year. Is it true that even after all these years there is still no love for Jan Brady? I would love to see Eve Plumb back... screw typecasting or better yet revel in it ! Either that or I need another Brady Bunch movie fix -- there is something to be said about the classics.