TV slut update...
May. 27th, 2006 03:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatYEs, I watched the Lost finale and the House finale and the Alias finale, also Desperate Housewives and Greys and Veronica Mars. Not to mention Gilmore Girls and West Wing. Plus Smallville (sigh), Supernatural, and ER - the last half-hour.
Of the season finales, Veronica Mars surprisingly enough was the best. With Grey's Anatomy a close second. Smallville was hokey and I do not admit in public that I watched it. Although Michael Rosenblaum in dark jacket looking villainous over the burning city while Lana clings lovingly to him - was amusing. Housewives annoyed me -
with the possible exception of Bree's storyline and the flashbacks. If it weren't for the flashbacks, Zach's taking over his grandfather's empire and ditching his adopted dad, and Bree breaking out of the insane aslym she checked herself into to save her kid, I'd have given up on it. Marcia Cross's complicated MArtha Stewart on the rocks, is captivating satire.
The Innovative and somewhat trippy award goes to House - which if you didn't catch, highly recommend you do. House is the anti-procedural, unlike all the procedurals - it's more interested in the characters and uses the procedures merely as metaphors to explore them. Usually procedurals use characters as pawns to explain complicated procedures and solve puzzel mysteries.
This episode begins with House getting shot. Not a spoiler, happens in first five minutes.
But what happens next is not what you expect. And tells you a great deal about the character, not to mention a tour de force for Hugh Laurie to play.
The entire episode takes place in House's head in the minutes between his blackout when he was shot, to coming to, while on a stretcher. He comes up with the cure for his leg pain and the gun-shot in the interim and the patient is indeed House himself. The mystery is what is real and what is not and how House figures it out.
Life is going to be tough next year if I don't get a DVR. Because there is no way on earth I can choose between Veronica Mars and House. Although to be fair, House is more episodic. Yet, I see more potential with House next season. I just hope CW does what UPN did last year, and repeats Veronica on Sundays at 7pm. Doubt it.
Veronica Mars wins the reward for having a finale that visually reverses images from the season opener or shows them in new revealing way. The episode, while flawed in places, does stick within the conventions of the genre, while at the same time expanding on the genre. If you watch Veronica with the view that it is a replacement of Buffy or another Gilmore Girls, you are missing the point. Veronica isn't trying to be either.
Lost managed to put all the lead characters in jeopardy or rather the ones with an edge that the audience cared about. Yet, still satisfied by answering left over mysteries from the year before.
I watch Lost purely for entertainment, no interest in analyzing the themes or tearing it apart.
Sorry. Only got obsessed with one tv show in that way. And that phase is gone.
At any rate - was not surprised by the answers to the mysteries. Figured the Island was one big magnet a year ago and the button-pushing had to do with keeping the magnet aligned. I love the social psyche experiment gone haywire story line that seems to be piggy-backing on the magnet one.
Actually it may explain why the magnet is even there or been fiddled with to the point that they now have to have someone maintain it.
I also like the whole six degrees of separation theme going on, which apparently is something the writers are obsessed with since their new series is literally called SIX DEGREES. The writers apparently like the idea there are no such things as coincidences and we are fated to meet everyone in our lives and every person will re-appear at another point in a different way.
Which is an interesting idea for a tv series. Question is can they keep it up without losing the audience?
Am I the only person who finds Charlie and Walt creepy? Not overly fond of the Michael/Walt characters - but they do provide a good edge. Look - my favorites are: Hurly, Sawyer, Sayid, Jin, and Locke. I'm ambivalent about Eko, Jack, Kate, and Sun. I miss Ana Lucia and Libby. Desmond - Penn do however have potential.
Henry surprised me - didn't expect him to be the leader of the Others. Makes the Others more interesting. Also nice to see Clancy Brown again. In Lost - bad people do pay for the horrors they've committed, what's cool is you don't realize they committed something horrible off the bat.
Kelvin who taught Sayid how to torture and brought it out in him, is forced to push a button every 108 minutes and struggles to deal with what he did.
Will watch next season. Enjoy it tremendously.
Grey's Anatomy had a hokey ending, but up until the finale reel was quite enjoyable. Have to be honest, I'm not invested in who Meredith ends up with or cared very much about Denny.
I watched for everyone else. Alex, Christina, the Nazi, Chief, Burke, George, Callie, and Addison.
The finale started with a facinating voice over compiled of all the character's ruminations on the flight or fight response. It also did a wonderful job of exploring how people handle situations by either fleeing or fighting and deterioation of both. The other bits worth noting are two scenes with the Chief - one with Patrick Dempsey, where the characters have over-lapping monolgues that are not in response to each other - and they do not appear to even hear one another, even though they are talking to each other. Another is a series of monologues directed at the Chief in response to a question. Each revealing something about the character and something about the chief to the chief - showing how we often project our own issues on whatever someone is telling us or saying. Those three bits alone, make Grey's one of the best tv shows I've seen in a while. Uneven sure - but that's good writing. Last writer to try that was Joss Whedon in BTVS and ATS. Haven't seen it since.
West Wing - one of the few tv shows I've stuck with all the way through, although I did miss portions of the two seasons that it was on opposite Angel, which I preferred. The overlapping dialogue of West Wing is a rarity. Fast-paced, and realistic. West Wing did get bogged down at times with preachiness, but overall was great drama. The finale did two cool things - one a line from Stockard Channing regarding Jed Bartlett's transistion. The other, Allison Janey's response to both Jimmy Smits plea to continue on the West Wing and her response to someone lurking outside the White House when she leaves it. Not as melodramatic as most season finales, it ended quietly, with little cliche references, and a few smart one-liners.
The other shows...sigh. Not worth mentioning. Except that I hope Gilmore is better written next year or will give up on it and that Supernatural's ending seemed just a tad over-the-top.
Now half-watching a dumb chick-flick that I enjoy.
[Updated to hide anything that could possibly be considered a spoiler by any stretch of imagination. If I spoiled you prior to this, my apologies. Wasn't deliberate.]
Of the season finales, Veronica Mars surprisingly enough was the best. With Grey's Anatomy a close second. Smallville was hokey and I do not admit in public that I watched it. Although Michael Rosenblaum in dark jacket looking villainous over the burning city while Lana clings lovingly to him - was amusing. Housewives annoyed me -
with the possible exception of Bree's storyline and the flashbacks. If it weren't for the flashbacks, Zach's taking over his grandfather's empire and ditching his adopted dad, and Bree breaking out of the insane aslym she checked herself into to save her kid, I'd have given up on it. Marcia Cross's complicated MArtha Stewart on the rocks, is captivating satire.
The Innovative and somewhat trippy award goes to House - which if you didn't catch, highly recommend you do. House is the anti-procedural, unlike all the procedurals - it's more interested in the characters and uses the procedures merely as metaphors to explore them. Usually procedurals use characters as pawns to explain complicated procedures and solve puzzel mysteries.
This episode begins with House getting shot. Not a spoiler, happens in first five minutes.
But what happens next is not what you expect. And tells you a great deal about the character, not to mention a tour de force for Hugh Laurie to play.
The entire episode takes place in House's head in the minutes between his blackout when he was shot, to coming to, while on a stretcher. He comes up with the cure for his leg pain and the gun-shot in the interim and the patient is indeed House himself. The mystery is what is real and what is not and how House figures it out.
Life is going to be tough next year if I don't get a DVR. Because there is no way on earth I can choose between Veronica Mars and House. Although to be fair, House is more episodic. Yet, I see more potential with House next season. I just hope CW does what UPN did last year, and repeats Veronica on Sundays at 7pm. Doubt it.
Veronica Mars wins the reward for having a finale that visually reverses images from the season opener or shows them in new revealing way. The episode, while flawed in places, does stick within the conventions of the genre, while at the same time expanding on the genre. If you watch Veronica with the view that it is a replacement of Buffy or another Gilmore Girls, you are missing the point. Veronica isn't trying to be either.
Lost managed to put all the lead characters in jeopardy or rather the ones with an edge that the audience cared about. Yet, still satisfied by answering left over mysteries from the year before.
I watch Lost purely for entertainment, no interest in analyzing the themes or tearing it apart.
Sorry. Only got obsessed with one tv show in that way. And that phase is gone.
At any rate - was not surprised by the answers to the mysteries. Figured the Island was one big magnet a year ago and the button-pushing had to do with keeping the magnet aligned. I love the social psyche experiment gone haywire story line that seems to be piggy-backing on the magnet one.
Actually it may explain why the magnet is even there or been fiddled with to the point that they now have to have someone maintain it.
I also like the whole six degrees of separation theme going on, which apparently is something the writers are obsessed with since their new series is literally called SIX DEGREES. The writers apparently like the idea there are no such things as coincidences and we are fated to meet everyone in our lives and every person will re-appear at another point in a different way.
Which is an interesting idea for a tv series. Question is can they keep it up without losing the audience?
Am I the only person who finds Charlie and Walt creepy? Not overly fond of the Michael/Walt characters - but they do provide a good edge. Look - my favorites are: Hurly, Sawyer, Sayid, Jin, and Locke. I'm ambivalent about Eko, Jack, Kate, and Sun. I miss Ana Lucia and Libby. Desmond - Penn do however have potential.
Henry surprised me - didn't expect him to be the leader of the Others. Makes the Others more interesting. Also nice to see Clancy Brown again. In Lost - bad people do pay for the horrors they've committed, what's cool is you don't realize they committed something horrible off the bat.
Kelvin who taught Sayid how to torture and brought it out in him, is forced to push a button every 108 minutes and struggles to deal with what he did.
Will watch next season. Enjoy it tremendously.
Grey's Anatomy had a hokey ending, but up until the finale reel was quite enjoyable. Have to be honest, I'm not invested in who Meredith ends up with or cared very much about Denny.
I watched for everyone else. Alex, Christina, the Nazi, Chief, Burke, George, Callie, and Addison.
The finale started with a facinating voice over compiled of all the character's ruminations on the flight or fight response. It also did a wonderful job of exploring how people handle situations by either fleeing or fighting and deterioation of both. The other bits worth noting are two scenes with the Chief - one with Patrick Dempsey, where the characters have over-lapping monolgues that are not in response to each other - and they do not appear to even hear one another, even though they are talking to each other. Another is a series of monologues directed at the Chief in response to a question. Each revealing something about the character and something about the chief to the chief - showing how we often project our own issues on whatever someone is telling us or saying. Those three bits alone, make Grey's one of the best tv shows I've seen in a while. Uneven sure - but that's good writing. Last writer to try that was Joss Whedon in BTVS and ATS. Haven't seen it since.
West Wing - one of the few tv shows I've stuck with all the way through, although I did miss portions of the two seasons that it was on opposite Angel, which I preferred. The overlapping dialogue of West Wing is a rarity. Fast-paced, and realistic. West Wing did get bogged down at times with preachiness, but overall was great drama. The finale did two cool things - one a line from Stockard Channing regarding Jed Bartlett's transistion. The other, Allison Janey's response to both Jimmy Smits plea to continue on the West Wing and her response to someone lurking outside the White House when she leaves it. Not as melodramatic as most season finales, it ended quietly, with little cliche references, and a few smart one-liners.
The other shows...sigh. Not worth mentioning. Except that I hope Gilmore is better written next year or will give up on it and that Supernatural's ending seemed just a tad over-the-top.
Now half-watching a dumb chick-flick that I enjoy.
[Updated to hide anything that could possibly be considered a spoiler by any stretch of imagination. If I spoiled you prior to this, my apologies. Wasn't deliberate.]