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next_to_normal) wrote2010-09-21 10:26 am
next_to_normal) wrote2010-09-21 10:26 am
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Monday TV round-up
Fall premieres are upon us. This generally means that I watch way too much TV than is healthy for a couple weeks, but it all settles down in October. :) This year, I'm not really interested in many new shows, but I figured I'd throw in a few "I watched it so you don't have to" reviews for the ones I was mildly curious about, but performed about as expected. Thoughts from last night under the cuts.
Chuck was brilliant as always. I'd read a fair amount of interviews beforehand, so I knew that the Buy More would be back as a CIA base, that Linda Hamilton was playing Mrs. Bartowski, and that Ellie was pregnant, but there was still plenty to enjoy in this episode. I loved Chuck and Morgan traversing the globe with the Indiana Jones-style map. And I'm glad that we got a lot of things sorted quickly - Chuck is back as a spy, Sarah and Casey are in on his search for his mom, and we've already gotten a significant peek at Mrs. B. I realize it's Chuck, and so there have to be some secrets, but I was a little disappointed that Ellie is once again out of the loop, since her character definitely suffered from being the only one who didn't know about Chuck's secret spy life. But from the previews, it looks like that won't last long, and I'm okay with the gang keeping Operation: Find Mom a secret from General Beckman (who I am so happy to see as the new Buy More manager! God help her if Jeff and Lester come back, but I SO want to see that). Overall, a strong start to the season, and I'm excited to see where they go this year.
I had no real interest in Lone Star, but Alan Sepinwall gave it a decent review, so I decided to check it out. It's about a Texas con man living two lives, both of them fake - in Houston, he just accepted a job working for his father-in-law's oil company; in Midland, he lives with his girlfriend and is getting his neighbors to invest in a mining venture. He's been working two long cons with his father, but the problem is, he's fallen in love. With his fake wife and his fake girlfriend, and even though the noose is tightening, he can't bear to cash in and get out before he gets caught. I gotta admit, I was bored by the pilot. I thought I would like it, but clearly I am more interested in capers (like Leverage) than the solitary con man (Don Draper being the unparalleled exception). I just didn't care about Bob or either of his fake lives (despite his wife being played by Friday Night Lights alum Adrianne Palicki), and I wasn't at all invested in whether he manages to pull it off or loses everything. So I think I'm giving this one a pass.
I also watched Hawaii Five-0, though I didn't think I'd like it, and it pretty much lived down my expectations. I don't know, maybe this is one of those remakes that runs entirely on nostalgia, which I don't have, having never seen the original version. I watched it mostly to see James Marsters' guest appearance, and I admit, when he got shot at the end, I actually said - out loud - "Oh, thank God," because it meant I didn't have to sit through more episodes. Although I think it says something that I saw that fight scene between him and Alex O'Laughlin and thought, "I bet he had a blast filming that." :) But holy mother of God, what is it about Alex O'Laughlin that completely sucks all the energy out of a scene? I don't understand why CBS has such a hard-on for him. He's been AWFUL in every show I've seen him in (which is, okay, two - this and Moonlight). Scott Caan definitely does his best to pick up the slack, but I can watch him playing basically the same character in Ocean's 11, and that's much more enjoyable than this. I do like Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park from their previous shows, but nothing I saw here impressed me enough to watch just for them. Won't be tuning into this one again.
So, what did YOU watch last night?
Chuck was brilliant as always. I'd read a fair amount of interviews beforehand, so I knew that the Buy More would be back as a CIA base, that Linda Hamilton was playing Mrs. Bartowski, and that Ellie was pregnant, but there was still plenty to enjoy in this episode. I loved Chuck and Morgan traversing the globe with the Indiana Jones-style map. And I'm glad that we got a lot of things sorted quickly - Chuck is back as a spy, Sarah and Casey are in on his search for his mom, and we've already gotten a significant peek at Mrs. B. I realize it's Chuck, and so there have to be some secrets, but I was a little disappointed that Ellie is once again out of the loop, since her character definitely suffered from being the only one who didn't know about Chuck's secret spy life. But from the previews, it looks like that won't last long, and I'm okay with the gang keeping Operation: Find Mom a secret from General Beckman (who I am so happy to see as the new Buy More manager! God help her if Jeff and Lester come back, but I SO want to see that). Overall, a strong start to the season, and I'm excited to see where they go this year.
I had no real interest in Lone Star, but Alan Sepinwall gave it a decent review, so I decided to check it out. It's about a Texas con man living two lives, both of them fake - in Houston, he just accepted a job working for his father-in-law's oil company; in Midland, he lives with his girlfriend and is getting his neighbors to invest in a mining venture. He's been working two long cons with his father, but the problem is, he's fallen in love. With his fake wife and his fake girlfriend, and even though the noose is tightening, he can't bear to cash in and get out before he gets caught. I gotta admit, I was bored by the pilot. I thought I would like it, but clearly I am more interested in capers (like Leverage) than the solitary con man (Don Draper being the unparalleled exception). I just didn't care about Bob or either of his fake lives (despite his wife being played by Friday Night Lights alum Adrianne Palicki), and I wasn't at all invested in whether he manages to pull it off or loses everything. So I think I'm giving this one a pass.
I also watched Hawaii Five-0, though I didn't think I'd like it, and it pretty much lived down my expectations. I don't know, maybe this is one of those remakes that runs entirely on nostalgia, which I don't have, having never seen the original version. I watched it mostly to see James Marsters' guest appearance, and I admit, when he got shot at the end, I actually said - out loud - "Oh, thank God," because it meant I didn't have to sit through more episodes. Although I think it says something that I saw that fight scene between him and Alex O'Laughlin and thought, "I bet he had a blast filming that." :) But holy mother of God, what is it about Alex O'Laughlin that completely sucks all the energy out of a scene? I don't understand why CBS has such a hard-on for him. He's been AWFUL in every show I've seen him in (which is, okay, two - this and Moonlight). Scott Caan definitely does his best to pick up the slack, but I can watch him playing basically the same character in Ocean's 11, and that's much more enjoyable than this. I do like Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park from their previous shows, but nothing I saw here impressed me enough to watch just for them. Won't be tuning into this one again.
So, what did YOU watch last night?
no subject
Holy crap! I'd probably be dangerous with a DVR, lol. As it is, I'm just about caught up - only this week's Life Unexpected to watch, and then of course The Vampire Diaries.
no subject
I end up deleting several of them due to no time. (ie. Detroit 1-8-7 had to hit the delete box, as did Warehouse 13). Also, it results in me seeing just about everything on. I'm like a little kid in a candy store - can I watch everything? Let's see...LOL!
Watched both Life and Vampire pseudo live this week...they are my guilty pleasure shows. ;-)