Friday, September 28, 2012

Series premiere: Last Resort

The new series "Last Resort" premiered last night and I have to say, it was the most intense pilot episode I've seen since the harrowing pilot to "Lost" - not quite the frenetic intensity of "Lost," but definitely steady, dreadful tension.

One of my favorite movies is "Crimson Tide," and "Last Resort" had similar elements to that movie - a questionable nuclear order, the replacement of the captain, a missile attack. I'm glad, though, that my first impression that this whole series was going to take place on a submarine turns out not to be correct - I think that would've made me really claustrophobic.

Anyway, the pilot did what any good pilot does - made me want to watch more. I'm intrigued. Who sent the sketchy order? Why are they trying to start another world war? Will Sam ever get home to his wife? Why is the captain so keen to NOT go home and start a new country from scratch on this island they're on? How much trouble is that gangster Julian going to cause?

The only critique I have really is that this is the kind of show that has to be willing to go all out - it has to be willing to show violence, it has to be willing to kill off characters, it has to make characters three-dimensional - there wasn't quite the level of detail, especially in those first two things, in this first episode to ratchet the intensity up to "Lost" levels. But a pilot episode is also just an introduction, not just for us, but for the writers and showrunners, to the stories and characters. So I'm hopeful. I will definitely be tuning in again.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

No musical episode will ever beat Buffy's "Once More, With Feeling" BUT...

...Psych's upcoming musical episode HAS to be better than the craptastic Grey's Anatomy. I still wasn't sure it would even come close to Joss Whedon's Buffy masterpiece, until I saw that one of the guest stars will be Anthony Rapp, of Broadway's Rent fame. (I met him once, btw...he bumped into me on the street and apologized. So polite! Made me love him all the more!) But the point is, Rapp can rock and he seems just the kind of personality to fit into a quirky episode of a quirky show like Psych!

Read all about it at Zap2It here!

How I Met Your Mother: Final Season?

Last night was the eighth season premiere of How I Met Your Mother. This was supposed to be the final season, and hopefully it still will be, although there is chatter on the Internet that they could try to pull out another season after this one.

I hope not.

I say that as someone who used to love this show. I fell in love with this show the very first time I saw it, which was on a whim - Alyson Hannigan, a Buffy alum, was going to be in it, so I tuned in. It quickly became must-see tv for me. And the first four and half/five seasons still are - HIMYM is in syndication now and whenever it's on, the boyfriend and I tune in. Sam was also an easy convert to the show - I made him watch one episode once and he was so excited to find out I had the dvds - I think we watched all five first seasons straight through over the course of several weeks. I let him watch with the caveat, though, that the show is not the same show now that it was back then.

And it's not.

After last night's episode, Sam goes, "This show really isn't that funny anymore, is it?" Not only is it not funny, but I can't relate to it anymore either. Its humor used to be quirky and weird and original, but now it goes for lame and obvious and dumb. I think the writers/showrunners got lazy. Or they just don't care about these characters anymore. Or they're just in it for the paycheck now (which is probably why they're talking of extending it another season). But besides the humor, these used to be characters I wanted to hang out with, because I saw myself in them. I used to think the HIMYM gang used to be the most realistic ensemble on tv - you could see why they were friends, and you wanted to hang out with them. Who the mother was or how Ted met her didn't even matter after awhile, because the journey was so enjoyable. I used to think the storytelling techniques on this show were great, too - the jumping around, the playing with time, the continuity (oh my God, I used to love the continuity!!)

But now...

Now I'm just in it to see how this trainwreck ends. Now, I AM watching to see who the mother is and how Ted meets her, but that's about it.

Oh, show - we'll always have the first five seasons!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Say it ain't so! Amy Poehler, Will Arnett separating after 9 years of marriage

Amy Poehler, Will Arnett separating after 9 years of marriage

I love Amy Poehler. I love Will Arnett. The only thing better than these two separately was these two as a couple...I totally would've nominated them for Funniest Couple of All Time. I'm so disappointed by this news! :( 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

’Mad Men’ gets Rickrolled in viral video

’Mad Men’ gets Rickrolled in viral video

Anything having to do with Mad Men is awesome, and this video is just pure fun (which is neat to see in a show and characters that are often way too serious and somber (that's somber, not sober!))