Posted Jan 29th 2010 4:32AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Fringe
(S02E14) An episode titled "The Bishop Revival" almost has a little religious overtone. But
Fringe this week was all about Nazis and Walter's dad's involvement with them. Turns out Dr. Robert Bishop (a.k.a. Bishov or Bishoff) was affiliated with the University of Berlin and came to this country in 1943. Also that he was a spy for the allies, smuggling scientific secrets to the Americans. Thus the setup for this episode and a little backstory for Walter.
Continue reading Review: Fringe - The Bishop Revival
Posted Jan 29th 2010 2:05AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Burn Notice
(S03E11) For a nice change of pace,
Burn Notice played up the local color. Lots of Little Dominica (not Little Havana) and action, including multiple explosions, a little face-forward repelling and a new somewhat mystical character for Michael to play. No Southern boy this week. No tank tops or muscle shirts. Nope. Michael was looking like Mr. Applegate, the devil in the musical
Damn Yankees.
Continue reading Review: Burn Notice - Friendly Fire
Posted Jan 29th 2010 1:48AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Project Runway, Episode Reviews
(
S07E03) This week on
Project Runway, the contestants finally get the opportunity to go to Mood. The contestants are divided into teams of two and have to make a high end signature look with $500 and two days to work on it. Tim announces a twist after day one: they have to make a look for less. The big twist was that the look for less had to be another team's dress.
We get one advantage of pairing up the high number of contestants: we finally see interviews from several contestants who have blended with the walls. Of course we're treated to Ping running around like a chicken with her head cut off announcing, "oh shoes!" and being convinced that hooker-wear is classy fabric.
Continue reading Review: Project Runway - The Hi's and Low's of Fashion
Posted Jan 29th 2010 1:20AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S01E01) Live for the Moment goes for the heartstrings at the first minute. In the premiere episode, we meet Roger Childs who started to suffer from ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease). Even with his body degenerating, he's managed to continue to be positive for his wife and two children. Jeff Probst arrives, hands the family a journal with several "missions" and hopes that the family will live for the moment.
On paper, the show is basically Phil Keoghan's show
No Opportunity Wasted, but with a bigger budget and longer timeline.
Live for the Moment is truly a combination of
The Bucket List, Big Fish, and Up! The show is saccharine sweet and would have fit perfectly on the Hallmark Channel.
Continue reading Review: Live for the Moment - Roger Childs (series premiere)
Posted Jan 29th 2010 12:30AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: OpEd, Animation, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E04) Ah, yes. Yet another fine episode of
Archer. This show has been steadily funny, which is good. I'm still waiting for it to do something outrageous and surprise us with a particularly extra-hilarious or an especially terrible episode, but I don't mind watching something that I can rely on for decent laughs, even if it doesn't leave me rolling on the floor.
Continue reading Review: Archer - Killing Utne
Posted Jan 28th 2010 12:02PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: OpEd, Nip/Tuck, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(
S07E04)
"I think, in a way, we all feel responsible." - Sean Just when it looked like we were on our way to a major break-up,
Nip/Tuck threw fans a curve ball last night as we head in to the series' final five episodes. For as much as Sean may despise Christian, what he's done, and how he acts, sticking with him for 25 years has left a scar -- Sean may see himself as the opposite of Christian, but the rest of the world views them as one and the same.
Continue reading Review: Nip/Tuck - Sheila Carlton
Posted Jan 28th 2010 4:45AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S02E12) "[Nathan's] drinking is not a problem. It's a symptom." - Eliot to Tara
Action dramas don't have to be so layered. As long as the screen is filled with lots of explosions and tough guys with their backs to them, smirking at the camera as if to say, "Oh yeah, that's an explosion behind me and I caused it. I'm a badass, even if I would face federal charges for detonating an explosive device in a public area. So who out there wants to sleep with me?"
Even though this week's
Leverage had a couple of moments like that, it still managed to be more layered in both its plot and characters than it has a right to be.
Continue reading Review: Leverage - The Zanzibar Marketplace Job
Posted Jan 27th 2010 11:34PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Friday Night Lights, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E11) This was a rough episode of
Friday Night Lights, filled with frustrating actions, characters doing things that make you want to yell at the screen, situations that shouldn't be happening at all. But this is Dillon, Texas and there's a world of drama going on even in a town seemingly as mundane as this one. It's not really just about football. It's about life.
Continue reading Review: Friday Night Lights - Injury List
Posted Jan 27th 2010 2:00PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E03) "Did the hooker just punch you in the face?" – Winston
No runaway trains or upside down planes this week. Instead, Chance crashed the Russian Embassy and teamed up with a sexy FBI agent to catch his friend's killer.
This was a great episode. It had all the elements of a taut big screen thriller, plus some excellent action and a few welcome quirky character moments. I've only seen three episodes, but I'm already hooked on
Human Target. I'm ready to follow Chance to the end of the season and beyond. Here's hoping that Fox (killer of all things that make me happy) has similar plans.
It looks like
Human Target is set on delivering plenty of stand-alone episodes with only hints at a greater story arc. I'm a big fan of shows that offer complicated arcs that stretch out over several seasons, but that's clearly not what's happening here.
Continue reading Review: Human Target - Embassy Row
Posted Jan 27th 2010 9:25AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Scrubs, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S09E11) Just like with
Better Off Ted, there doesn't seem to be any sign that the final two episodes of
Scrubs are going to air any time soon. One was supposed to air tonight, but got yanked. One might air next Wednesday, but evidence is conflicting.
If this is the last episode we see, then, that'll be a shame, because this was the best one of the season. We saw a lot of growth by all the characters, even the ones that we've seen on our screens for nine years. But mostly, we saw exactly what the new
Scrubs could be if given time: a great ensemble comedy that brings the funny on a consistent basis.
Continue reading Review: Scrubs - Our Dear Leaders
Posted Jan 27th 2010 8:28AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, The Biggest Loser, Episode Reviews
(S09E04) Good lord there was a lot of drama in the Biggest Loser house tonight. After the yell-fest last week between Bob, Jillian and the Red team, I was confident that we'd get the fallout from that as the trainers tried to work with Lance and Melissa -- and we did -- but drama came from another direction as well.
By the end of the episode, I was ready to completely send two teams home just so there could be some damned peace and quiet in the house for once. I got 25% of my wish.
Faced with the challenge of forging ahead on his own, and after getting encouraging, but tough, words from the other contestants, the pressure was on Michael to prove his worth in the house, with the other contestants and most importantly, for himself. His journey of commitment was completely overshadowed.
Continue reading Review: The Biggest Loser - Week Four
Posted Jan 27th 2010 8:00AM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S02E11) That's all, folks. This was the final scheduled episode of
Better Off Ted, aka ABC's brightest, funniest and weirdest comedy in years. I'm really gonna miss this show, and I'm not looking forward to awaiting the network's final decision concerning its fate. Will
BoT return to ABC? Could another network (say Comedy Central?) pick it up? I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath.
Tonight's episode wasn't exactly a classic, but it offered plenty of laughs, hilarious throwaway lines and a great guest turn from
Warehouse 13's Eddie McClintock.
Casting McClintock as Ted's flaky brother Billy was a wonderful idea. The guy has excellent comic timing and he fit in perfectly with the rest of the cast and the crazy tone of the show. I loved how Billy brought out the primitive nut-slapping, titty-twisting version of Ted we rarely get to see. Billy's visit also prompted Phil and Lem to act reckless and order a ridiculous amount of cadavers, chomp down on "cheese apples" and wear tight leather pants.
Continue reading Review: Better Off Ted - Mess of a Salesman
Posted Jan 27th 2010 12:45AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S07E13) So there they were in Paris -- Tony and Ziva. The situation was ripe for romance, right? Was
NCIS finally going to "go there" and let fans have a
Moonlighting moment for their favorite characters?
Not so fast. Before you could say Champs Elysees, the two were boarding a jet at Charles de Gaulle airport to complete an assignment that turned into murder in the air. Fortunately, the mystery on the airliner trumped the one on the ground and made for a good episode.
Continue reading Review: NCIS - Jet Lag
Posted Jan 27th 2010 12:25AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E09) While watching
Human Target (on a special night tonight) right before this episode of
White Collar, I got to thinking how many old-fashioned, fun action shows there are on TV right now. This show,
Burn Notice,
Human Target. They're throwbacks to the 60s or 70s or 80s, the lone hero (or the hero with a partner) helping either an innocent civilian or the government take down the bad guys, using cleverness, gadgets, disguises and fighting skills.
That's not to say they're just fluffy, throwaway entertainments ... well, maybe to a certain extent they are. But
Burn Notice and
White Collar have a lot more going on than that, while at the same time not resorting to brooding, troubled heroes like a lot of characters on many other modern shows.
Continue reading Review: White Collar - Bad Judgment
Posted Jan 26th 2010 11:38AM by Hemal Jhaveri
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S01E02) - Oh, Cate. Had I known you were capable of pulling a lowly, John Edwards-esqe move, I may not have been so ready in praise of you last week. Seriously, the one thing I can not overlook in this episode if how quick Cate was to deny her daughter's existence on her radio show. The same radio show that Cate knows Lux listens to religiously.
Happily enough, everyone else was around to pick up the slack as Lux decides if she really can trust her new parents, and if they, in turn, can earn legal foster parent status.
Get ready to have your heart strings pulled, hard.
Continue reading Review: Life Unexpected - House Inspected
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