My take on the Fall 2008 TV season *updated*

Mentalist to me just seems to be a rehashed Profiler. But as I was a big fan of Profiler/Pretender, this works for me. But they need to hurry up and introduce the scary serial killer taunting Jane thing.
Also, what's the deal lately with every show having a strip joint scene? Especially shows like Bones and Numbers which high school teachers are suppose to recommend to their students. It just seems awkward to recommend shows that then has gratuitous sexual connotations.
Update 2009 - boy, I'm not kidding - so many strip joint scenes in so many different shows! Its absolutely ridiculous! Its like they are trying to advertise that strip joints are perfectly acceptable places to go, and everybody should want to go to one. Ugh.

I really liked both Pushing Daisies and Eli Stone. I'm sad that these great shows are being cancelled. But I just didn't know where the romantic storyline was headed...would there ever be a "cure" for Chuck? Maybe they'll address this in the comic books.

Smallville has gotten so much better. I think this is the best season since the first season. I love all the Superman references, and am relieved that they are finally following the legend storylines. Does anyone else notice that when Tom Welling plays a deliberate superman reference, he always gives a Tom Welling grin at the end, not his Clark Kent one? I think that's funny.

Shows I love/can't miss this year: Chuck, Terminator, Prison Break, Fringe (but it needs a bit more romantic innuendo), Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Life on Mars (favorite new show for both hubby and me - also if he falls in love with Annie, will he not want to ever wake up? 2009 - loved the ending! watch this on netflix dvd!), Smallville (loads better than sorry last season), The Office (Go Jim and Pam!), Life, Top Chef.

Shows I'm disappointed in this season and hope will get better soon: Ugly Betty (where's the love angle? and Mark cheating was just pitiful), Criminal Minds*, Bones (breaking up Hodgins and Angela sucked), Ghost Whisperer (jim dying then coming back as other actor -seriously? can someone say General Hospital here?)

*Ok, I will admit that I'm beginning to really like the Ghost Whisperer set-up - it allows for some very romantic angst-ridden episodes - and those are my favorite type of episodes. So go writers! Keep creating all that romantic mushiness! *1/29 I think these last few episodes are the best ever - Who knew it could be so delicious putting a ghost inside someone else? May 2009 - what's the deal though with the 8 weeks pregnant - Jim only died 6 weeks ago? A lot of stuff happened in just 6 weeks! I think that's a bit unbelievable. And if they get married in two weeks, people in town are suppose to believe that Melinda marries this stranger eight weeks after Jim dies? Who does that? Talk about town gossip! It would be way more believable if she was 12 weeks pregnant.

*Hey, I actually know the episode names of my favorite Criminal Minds episodes - they are rerunning two of them this week, which reminded me of it. Lucky, Penelope, Lo-Fi and Mayhem. Great stuff! See, this is a team-oriented show like Bones - this is what Eleventh Hour needs. Speaking of Bones, what's the deal moving it all over the place? Its like they are trying to kill it deliberately - no! this is a good show! I really like how they are amping up Bones and Boothe's relationship - finally, about time! We don't want a forever Who's the Boss situation here.

Show I'm cautiously optimistic about: Crusoe - love the set, and the flashbacks. Am wondering what they are going to do though for a few seasons stuck on that island. I want to see what is happening with his wife and children while he is on the island. I wish they would run a concurrent storyline or something. That would be more interesting/satisfying. * I've heard they have canceled this show. Its a shame, because really, this was a clean show. Its the type of show that you could safely allow your pre-teens to watch - it was just a really fun ride. I still think if they had done a concurrent storyline of the wife/kids it would have been more successful.

*1/29 I'm so glad that they continued Crusoe on Saturday nights, and that they are now running a concurrent storyline with the wife. I know that this show is canceled which is a shame because its one of those true 80's style adventure shows that you can safely watch with your family.

Shows that need a great deal of improvement: Eleventh Hour - a show about science as Numbers is about numbers - but where's the cast? This show needs way more people. *1/29 I'm finding this show more and more boring. I feel like I make myself watch it. I can't believe this show is in the top 20 - it needs more characters. I'm tired of just Hood and Rachel. Boring!

I actually wrote part of the above on my favorite TV watcher site - Maureen Ryan, who writes for the Chicago Tribune. And she published one of my comments on her blog. :)

Check it out: Maureen Ryan's Blog

Conversations I've had lately about TV:

I love Chuck! Its such a great new-fashioned 80s kind of show. It reminds me of Scarecrow and Mrs. King quite a lot. And I loved/love that show so I think this one is great!
I think I watched 3 seasons of 7th heaven and then got really tired of all the gossip and tattle-tailing. Don't they know that gossip is a sin? ;) I would be busting those little behinds so much on the sarcasm and tattle-tailing alone! ;)
I've got 2 House episodes on my Dvr too right now! People everywhere are complaining of how its become a 13 show, more than a House show. I think these last 2 episodes are suppose to be even more 13ish.
I watched all 6 seasons of 24 two summers ago. I don't know how I'm going to watch it where you have to wait week by week. I don't know if I can do it!
Ah, the angst that is Jack. I think they should just call some syndrome Jack angst. We all know what they would be talking about. I just want to take that man and put him in a rocking chair up in a cabin in the mountains with hummingbird feeders, a glass of lemonade, and the book of Psalms in his cozy blanket-covered lap. He so needs a mental retreat.
I watched the first season of Heroes, but then got bogged down on episode 3 last year. I think I'll just wait till they have all the seasons, and then watch them all in a short time frame on dvd.
Smallville is so much better this season. The creators finally left, so they have more lee-way to do more superman stuff. This is the season that die-hard fans who actually watched/got through the last 2 seasons have been waiting for! Lang is out - Lane is in - Kansas is out - Metropolis is in - farm boy clark is out - newspaper superman is in! so so so much better! *Argh! Not Lana again! She is too dark-natured for Clark - she has too many secrets - and she doesn't always do the right thing. How they portary Lois on this series is that she is true-blue - always has your back, always loyal, always caring, always wanting to find out the truth and help others. That is a good companion for Clark - two peas in a pod are they philosophically. Which is why I've always liked the Lois and Clark dynamic in all the series. Lana is poison, go away.

for the comment on Channel 13: Sorry Dawn. I've already seen all the British comedies they still air years ago, and I'm not one for Masterpiece Theater. I wouldn't mind seeing the British version of Life on Mars though.... and I am a big (new) Dr. Who fan though I'm too nervous still to watch the last five episodes of last season. I'm working up to it. And I was a big BBC Robin Hood fan until the end of the second season - they really jumped the shark/made it completely ridiculous on that one. I don't see how that series is suppose to go on, its like Prison Break without Sarah, completely dismal.

Now, if you are talking about Kids shows on Channel 13 - I'm all for that! I like most of the ones that have phonics built in, like Word Girl and Between the Lions. I also like Curious George. I don't like Caillou or Arthur because I think those kids teach bad habits and are too smart-alecky. I like how they reran Wishbone for awhile. Here's a link where you can buy Wishbone. I like ioffer - I find all kinds of great kids shows on that website. I wish PBS would rerun Bill Nye - I would show that show to the fifth graders in my library, and their science test scores would go up. Out of all the science shows out there (see links for purchase) - Crash Bang Splat, Beakman's World, Magic School Bus - Bill Nye is the best. But Disney owns it now, so their version on DVD is $3000 and who on earth can afford that? So of course, PBS doesn't air Bill Nye anymore. Which is a real shame considering how much they all say they want America to be more science education oriented.......

My comment on Prison Break:

August 16th, 2008: I just watched for the first time all 3 seasons on Dvd these past two weeks. I just knew Sara couldn't be dead. Season 3 really suffered without her in it because it was more of a guy's show - more gruesome, more violent, more gritty and despairing, less heart. I am so glad she'll be back - I think she'll really improve the show and the ratings. Sorry to all you commenters that are guys out there who don't care about personal relationships as long as something gets blown up, but us girls like our happy endings and a good developed relationship. This show was beginning to look like 24, and I really didn't want Michael turning into the tortured angst that is Jack. Give him at least some relief - and I think that can be accomplished with Sara's return. Thank you producers for bringing her back, I look forward to being a new primetime viewer fan for this fall, and will continue to be so as long as nothing happens to Michael and Sara.

My comment on Dollhouse:

May 5, 2009 - Joss is always great with Scooby Gang camaraderie, but I get tired of him always making relationships fall apart - which is what he always does - either violently or gradually eroding - which is always disappointing to me. To me that is what is always a bit off in all his series - there is no real love between any of his characters, and you definitely see that in the Dollhouse. The Dollhouse is his ultimate fantasy where no one truly cares about anybody else. He's said several times in interviews that he doesn't believe in true love or lasting monogamous relationships, and boy does it ever show in his series. I really think that this philosophy of his really hurts his shows and why they can only find a cult following that tends to like to watch love angst. Most of us get wrung out by watching all these relationships eventually blowing up. The only episode where he allows love to truly shine is when Zander saves Willow from blowing up the world. But he deliberately made that love impossible several seasons earlier - he just likes blowing up any type of love connection, and it just gets a bit draining/frustrating.*
Terminator is also a great show, but it also needs a non-blowing up love connection. Which it could accomplish in its new future twist. Joss Whedon should stick with movies, and Fox should bring back the Terminator instead.

*my 3 favorite Buffy episodes are ones with more of a love angle - the snow falling on Angel and Buffy, Zander saving Willow, and the Musical one.

My comment on Glee:

Several problems:
One, too much happened in the pilot - it was on a helium fast plot with not enough characterization - it would have been better if this first episode had been more drawn out in two hours so that the characters weren't so two dimensional.
Second, I thought this was going to be a summer show. If I had known it wasn't going to air until the fall, I would have waited to watch the pilot in the fall. I think this is a dumb move on Fox's part - to give the pimp spot after American Idol to a show that isn't going to air again for 3 months. People have notoriously short attention spans, and only those who truly love high school based shows, and/or musicals will tune in next fall. However, if they would continue to air it this summer and into the fall, they might have truly had a good chance at a summer sensational hit. I hope that waiting till the fall won't kill the show. I personally love musicals, and hope this one won't disappoint.
Three, the satirical and preachy part of it was actually really annoying. I wish they would play it more real and less Office/Scrubs- like. Not quite as saccharin as High School Musical, but at least more upbeat and likable. Its like they tried to put together the entire moral lesson of High School Musical in the last 15 minutes of the show. That made it superficial and stereotypical. I hope the show will improve when they finally do decide to air it again.

Comment about American Idol Finale Performance:

What I absolutely hated was how Idol set them up to fail with that last song - completely the wrong song for both of them - they both had major trouble with it - it was in the wrong key and way too fast - they couldn't even catch their breath. What should have happened was that they both should have been allowed to make their own arrangement of the song to fit their voices - which the judges have been praising them for all season. But because Kara wrote it, they weren't allowed to rearrange it. I wouldn't be surprised if Kara doesn't become a laughingstock because of those lame lyrics and even lamer arrangement. The whole thing was just really sad, and definitely wasn't a blow-out, ear-popping wow performance that the last song should have been. Sigh. I think the only decent "last" song that Idol ever made was Kelly's Moment like This - and even that song is only special because of the way Kelly sang it. Next time, the performers should write their own songs and perform them - then we'd really see what kind of artist they really are.