With the Summer Season about to kick off (which means that Canadians will finally get to see season two of Veronica Mars) I thought I’d take a look back and look at some of the shows I watched regularly as we wait 4 months (or more) for their return.
24:
The season was probably one of the more coherent ones in terms of the season-long story. The layering of bad guys was done much better this time around, and by not killing them right away you left some room for them to return. I’m kind of torn about the cliffhanger ending though. The last time they did that (in season two) they basically ignored that it’d ever happened. But this time, there HAS to be some fallout from this, and they’d better make it something that we can buy into.
I do see some positives coming out of this though. Generally speaking, there’s a pool of maybe 5 male Asian actors that are used in guest spots (there used to be six, but Daniel Dae Kim got a good gig out in Hawaii for some show about being lost or something. I hear it’s pretty good). If this can lead to us seeing guys other than James Hong, Ping Wu and Russell Wong, I’m all for it.
The Amazing Race:
A very uneven year for my favourite reality show. After a season which featured high ratings (in part thanks to Rob Mariano), a lot of viewers fled thanks to the non-globetrotting “Family Edition”. This resulted in a ratings drop for the 9th edition of the Race – one that dropped further after being shuffled to Wednesdays. Hopefully, the show will recover in it’s new Sunday slot next season.
American Idol:
An interesting season, to be sure. Probably the first where any of the final five had a legitimate chance to win, and possibly the first where the Final Two will be overshadowed by a previously eliminated contestant. The truth is, Chris Daughtry has the best shot at mainstream popularity, and whether he goes it alone or with Fuel, I’m sure he’ll be doing fine in his career.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation:
You’d think that the show would’ve ran with the momentum provided by Tarantino’s “Grave Danger” episodes. You’d be wrong. The show really failed to pick up much in the way of continuity and has really gotten into the same-old, same-old rhythm. Even the way they managed to close the book on Nick’s burial was done in a “oh by the way” manner, and not made to be particularly important.
And, I don’t really put a lot of stock in “Jump the Shark” moments, but if you do, the season ending shot of Grissom and Sidle together would pretty much be it, I think.
CSI: Miami:
In contrast, the Miami crew went for a decent season-long subplot about a mole in the lab – a plot that was paid off last Monday, with a rather predictable reveal. Since Boa Vista was a new recurring character, the likelyhood of her being the mole was pretty strong. Why not throw in a twist and make it one of the older recurring characters? Would anyone have believed that, say, Valera was the mole?
Still, what makes this show fun to watch is the acting. And I’m not talking about acting in the good way. David Caruso is a horrible actor, and the fact that this guy never really changes facial expressions actually makes things entertaining. Take the finale, for example. Caine is going about taking down the Mala Noches with his usual businesslike demeanour, and he’s so cool and calm that you’d never guess that his new wife had just died after being shot in the abdomen. Meanwhile, Delko is a near wreck because his sister just died. I tell you, great stuff.
Grey’s Anatomy:
This show has undoubtedly become the MVP of ABC’s lineup, becoming stronger in it’s sophomore year while Desparate Housewives and Lost stumbled a bit. Between this and House, your hospital drama fix should be covered. Although this is a bit more Melrose Place in nature. As of thie writing, I still haven’t seen the finale, but I’m sure I’ll get to it soon.
And I might as well reiterate that Sandra Oh probably shouldn’t have won that Golden Globe. Except that she’s an Asian actress. With a fairly major role, and a storyline where she’s involved with a black man. And they missed the boat when Ming Na (a far superior actress) had a pretty similar storyline on ER. I’m just saying.
CSI: New York:
The third CSI show was probably in between the other two CSIs in terms of quality. But some tweaks to the story – Hawkes joins the field investigators, Aiden Burn is replaced by Lindsey Monroe – have helped tremendously. The characters seem more comfortable in their roles, and the writers are working hard to give us a New York spin on the CSI formula.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit:
This season was more of the same – rapes, murders, and Diane Neal’s hair getting lighter and lighter. Tamara Tunie finally gets a starring credit, and it’s about time. But overall, the show is probably more notable for it’s attempts at hiding Mariska Hagritay’s pregnancy in the latter half of the season.
Lost:
Hi Ana. Hi Libby. Bye Ana. Bye Libby.
After an awesome rookie season, Lost stumbled a bit in it’s sophomore year. The introduction of the “tailies” gave us some good stories, but all that seemed to get negated after Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros got DUIs and the writers started looking for ways to kill them off in a believable manner. The Hatch started out like a good idea, but it seems like the writers ran out of ideas and we spent half a season watching people punch numbers and generally making the place a nice little shelter. But business did pick up at the tail end of the season, leaving me with hope that season three will regain some momentum.
IP Linkage:
Shelly is on top of things with her recaps of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’.
Matt B wants to get stuck in a net with Evangeline Lilly.
Craig gives us a doubleshot, giving his take on the fall schedules for ABC, NBC and CBS.
Todd McFarlane makes Lost action figures. Why? Because he still needs to pay off Tony Twist…
The Week… In Hindsight:
Thursday:
‘CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’ (CTV, CBS)
‘UFC Unleashed’ (Spike) – One hour of Matt Hughes beating the crap out of people
‘The Ultimate Fighter 3’ (Spike) – OK, so I was wrong about Ross coming back. The Tait/Josh fight was exciting in that two of the less talented guys went toe-to-toe for ten minutes, but could they have went head to head with Bisping? Jesse? Matt? Mike Nichols? Probably not.
Quick prediction for the Danny/Ed fight: Ed wins via ref stoppage in 50 seconds.
Sunday:
‘Numb3rs’ (Global, CBS)
Sunday:
‘Cold Case’ (CTV, CBS)
‘CSI:Miami/CSI:New York’ (CBS) – Repeat of the crossover between the two shows
Monday:
’24’ (Fox)
‘CSI: Miami’ (CTV, CBS)
Tuesday:
‘American Idol’ (CTV, Fox)
‘House’ (Fox) – I watch this show every once in a while, and I don’t think I could’ve picked a worse time to watch. I’m pretty sure I saw this in an episode of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ – and it was done much, much better. Luckily for Fox, this viewer knows that the show is much better than that.
Wednesday:
‘American Idol’ (CTV, Fox)
‘Lost’ (ABC)
That’s it for this week.
