Premiere Watch '07: Round Up!!!

Well, I'm exhausted. Who knew that blogging about television could be so tiring ;-) It sure didn't help matters that there are now about a billion shows that I wanted to a least sample this season. Here are my rankings for the first episodes of almost everything a whole lot of new and returning shows (scale of 1 to 10):

Pilots:

• Pushing Daisies...............9.5
• Reaper..............................8.5
• Chuck...............................8.0
• Gossip Girl.......................7.5
• Dirty Sexy Money..........7.0
• Samantha Who?..............7.0
• Aliens in America............7.0
• Moonlight.........................6.5
• Kid Nation........................6.5
• Private Practice...............5.0
• Big Shots...........................2.5
• Viva Laughlin...................1.0

Returning Series:

• The Office.........................8.0
• 30 Rock.............................8.0
• Ugly Betty.........................7.5
• Grey's Anatomy...............7.0
• Brothers and Sisters........6.0
• Men In Trees....................6.0
• Heroes................................5.5
• Desperate Housewives....5.0

Whew. It seems like no sooner did we wade through all the premieres, than it's time for November Sweeps! Oh well, bring on the weddings, births, deaths, surprise pregancies, etc....

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Heroes Musings...

Random musings about a Heroes episode (does it really matter which one?):

• If the Heroes execs think that in a show down between Milo and Kristen Bell, the audience is going to root for Milo, they are extremely misguided.
• Whoa, Grunberg expecting Nathan to carry him and fly to Philadelphia is asking a heck of a lot.
• It's not good when the politician is more badass than the cop.
• Matt has to be reminded to read minds when he's looking for answers? For crying out loud...
• It's kind of a shame that Heroes can apparently only afford that one roof top set...it's getting a bit overused.
• Yep, Micah doesn't understand Nikki's power either.
• Despite being telekinetically transported into this prison, Matt still seems to think that he's in an actual real world prison...stupid.
• I do enjoy watching two of the Heroes beat the crap out of each other. Any two will do.
• Could David Anders have a smaller part on this show? Come on. Even KB isn't getting all that much.
• Micah's cousin says, "I'm just looking for some answers," and Mohinder shows up one minute later and says "I have some answers." Oh jeez.
• Milo needs to TONE DOWN THE FACIAL EXPRESSIONS.

Premiere Watch '07: Viva Laughlin

Viva Laughlin:
Well, it wasn't easy, but CBS managed to put a show on at 10 p.m. on Thursday that was significantly worse than Big Shots.

I didn't think it could be done. Major congratulations are in order for Les Moonves, etc. The congratulations will, however, be quickly followed by questioning along the likes of: "WTF were you thinking?"

Ok, I don't particularly love musicals, but I really don't like whatever this was. It wasn't a musical because the actors were only kind of singing along with the actual songs. And they doing it in a half-assed manner reminiscent of Britney Spears at the VMAs. You couldn't even freaking hear them some of the time.

As stupid/bad as the songs were, I felt like there weren't enough of them because the spoken dialogue and plot were so much more awful! And, dude, the main character guy is replusive. And not in a House/Dexter/Boston Legal kind of way, but in a there's-nothing-remotely-likeable-or-redeemable-about-this-person-at-all kind of way.

I felt badly for some of the actors in the show who can do so much better (and have done better in the past): Senator McAllistor's brother from Brothers and Sisters (a.k.a. Rex from Days of Our Lives), Sherry Tinsdale from Gilmore Girls, and Professor Landry from Veronica Mars. I feel particularly badly for Prof. Landry because he was on Pushing Daisies just last week! That's a long way to fall in a very short amount of time.


Most of the time while watching Viva Laughlin, I honestly could not believe what my eyes were seeing and my ears were hearing. And not at all in a good way.

Premiere Rating: 1 / 10
(Well, I know it was worse than Big Shots, which got a 2.5, but I'm not really sure where to place this one in the 0 to 2 range. I'll go with a 1 because I suppose that somehow it could have been worse: they could have sung only Spice Girls and Celine Dion songs, they could have played a transexual hooker plot line for laughs, they could have aired a blank screen for an hour, etc.)

Premiere Watch '07: Samantha Who?

Samantha Who?

Well, this is my last premiere review of the fall season, unless I blog Viva Laughlin for some evil fun tomorrow...which, face it, I'm totally going to do.

Anyway, Samantha Who? was a pretty darn delightful show, which is much more than anyone can say for ABC's other new comedies (Cavemen, Carpoolers), which I couldn't even sit through. I enjoy seeing Christina Applegate back on television, as I was a bit of a Jessie fan back in the day. At times, Christina seemed just a little over-the-top in her portrayal of Sam, but I guess she was going for the always-on-the-verge-of-a-freak-out thing that is popular among female TV characters (and Chuck from Chuck).

After the first episode, I feel pretty sorry for "new" Sam since she's stuck with "old" Sam's scary parents and friends. I love Gilmore Girls' Sookie, but her character was pretty freaky on this show. And, let's just say, if that's how Jennifer Esposito acts in real life (I assume it's not), then I can see why Bradley Cooper divorced her.

I did love Barry Watson in this show. I think he's becoming one of those people who just get cuter and cuter all the time (or maybe he just seems cuter since I don't have to be watching 7th Heaven to see him). It was a nice twist that Todd had already tried to break up with pre-coma Sam. That revelation made a lot of sense because he didn't really seem all that into having her around. I also liked how all the messages on his answering machine were his friends bad-mouthing Sam.

I hope we get to see more flashbacks to pre-coma Sam, because she seems pretty entertaining in her horribleness.

Funniest Part:

Sam: "You raised me. You made me who I am!"

Sam's mom: "What a horrible thing to say!"

Sam's dad: "Apologize to your mother."

What I liked most about this pilot is that it made it seem like there's plenty more material to cover in this story. So hopefully the show won't peter out in the next few episodes, like I think Reaper sadly has.

But I would be remiss not to mention that this show is almost exactly 13 Going On 30 without the fairy dust and the "Thriller" dance sequence.

Premiere Rating: 7 / 10

(photo: abc.com)

NYC Gossip Girl "Sighting"

Hey there, TV lovers. Gossip Girl here with all the latest scoop on your favorite Upper East Siders (and Upper East Sider wannabes).

Spotted: B, N, S, D, C and J all hanging out and looking gorgeous in Times Square Monday morning. Who knew they travel in a pack now?

XOXO... Gossip Girl.

(Seriously, I was in NYC on Monday, but what stinks is that I was in Bryant Park, but Jennifer Garner and Violet were in Central Park. Crap. And to make matters more frustrating, apparently Tuesday in Bryant Park they filmed scenes from the Sex and the City movie. Where is my luck?)

Premiere Watch '07: Men In Trees

Men In Trees:
It's amazing how many "previously on Men In Trees..." scenes they have to show after being off the air for 8 months.

Hey, Sarah's kid is back...and he's a little dopey. You'd think growing up in Alaska would have made him a little tougher.

Marin sure gets herself in some crappy situations here in Alaska. It seems she finds herself lost in the woods in the midst of some sort of natural disaster every other week.

Marin can be so pathetic sometimes... Trying to pull a tree out of the ground? Please. I know it's just one of those aggressive, hyper-literal Men In Trees metaphors, but this one's a little silly.

Why wasn't Cash holding on to Marin while they were wandering through the woods in a very low visibility environment?

How does Annie find such cool shoes in Elmo, Alaska? I can't find cool shoes in Pennsylvania, for frak's sake.

Patrick: "Maybe there are some things we need to work on...like not yelling at little boys."

Whoa, that little nod at the end between Cash and Jack almost made it look like they are a little into each other... Hmm...

It felt like this episode contained a lot of filler, but that's understandable because they had to write a new episode to "reintroduce" us to the show after such a long hiatus. I'm still excited to see the last year's unaired episodes--I'm sure they'll be a lot going on in them.

Premiere Rating: 6.0 / 10

Gossip Girl Takes on Heroes

On Monday I watched Heroes and was struck (yet again) by how many freaking characters are actually on that show. So I was thinking that we almost need someone to help us keep them all straight, and then I had a brainstorm that Heroes needs to adopt a Gossip Girl-esque narrator (and since Kristen Bell's already on their payroll, what's stopping them?). Gossip Girl would help viewers keep track of the 7 million characters and, as an added bonus, through in snarky comments. And let's face it, if anyone deserves some snarky comments thrown at them, it's the people on Heroes. Here's my attempt at Gossip Girl summarizing this week's Heroes episode:

Hey, everybody! Gossip Girl here, bringing you all the dirt on your favorite (or least favorite, as the case may be) heroes. Sorry, folks--it doesn't matter how evolutionarily advanced you are or what magical powers you have, I still know everything you're up to...

Spotted: C-Bear and her new creepy boy-toy on a romantic rendezvous in the clouds. That's right, gossipers--C-Bear's new stalker/boyfriend has the same power as her bio-daddy N! They say girls always marry their fathers... Stay tuned though, because it turns out C-Bear's other beloved daddy kidnapped said sketchy boy back in the days he worked for the evil empire. This should make for some rousing family dinners!

Spotted: PP getting his Black Donnelly on with a crime family in Ireland. That's right--the scope of Gossip Girl's reach knows no geographical limits. It seems PP is content being an accomplice to robbery, kissing Irish girls and *not* wearing a shirt as often as possible. Are his days of mopey, crime-fighting idealism over? Could we be so lucky?

Spotted: M and Mama N leaving Las Vegas. If you didn't see them, don't feel bad--they were having the exact same conversation they've been having during at least 5 other sightings.

Spotted: The Terrible Twins in a Mexican prison. Girl Twin did her mascara-of-death act on the guards to spring her brother from the slammer. Somebody needs to hook her up with some waterproof Maybelline stat! Luckily, Boy Twin managed to quell her evil and oh-so-nebulous power, bringing everyone back to life. Twinsies made a break for it, taking with them the ass clown from one cell over, because apparently I don't have enough people to keep track of. Don't worry, fellow hero-worshipers, Gossip Girl is not easily deterred.

Spotted: H still in feudal Japan. You got it--Gossip Girl transcends both space and time. Seems H has succeeded in transforming his oh-so-wickedly-hot folk hero into a warrior, but still can't bring himself to leave without a certain princess. Sorry, H, since she's not blind, your chances aren't very good against that super-hottie. Time to come home to reunite with bff A, who is dangerously close to losing his job. A, I know you're reading this...it's time to stop reading gossip blogs and start doing your job!

As for the rest of you, stay tuned. Gossip Girl is amazing, but it's hard for even her to keep track of all of these chromosomal mutants. It is easier now that none of them are actually doing anything interesting.

Until next time... You know you love me.
XOXO -- Gossip Girl

(photos: nbc.com)

Thursday TV: Werewolf Bar Mitzvah, ABBA, etc.

Highlights from another funny night of Thursday television:
Ugly Betty:
Season 2, Episode 3

Amanda maintained that that if she and Daniel are half-siblings, them having sex was only wrong half of the time.

Stressed-out Henry yelled at Mark and Amanda, garnering an unintended response:
Amanda:"Did he just get really hot?"
Marc:"I've never been more attracted to someone in my whole life."

Daniel tried teaching Justin to play basketball: "Ok, let's try again. Maybe lose the bracelets, I don't know."


The Office: "Launch Party"
I enjoyed the group's avid interest in seeing whether the little box that moves around in the screen saver ever actually goes into the corner of the screen. I've definitely watched for that before too.

And, there's something so right in the world when Andy Bernard sings ABBA (with back-up singers via speakerphone no less). Angela should lock that down ;-)


30 rock: "Jack Gets in the Game"
Jack: "Oh, come on, what are we, back at college freshman year? Let's go to the common room and talk about Apartheid."

The Best Tracy Moment is a tie between his belief that his vanity license plate, "ICU81MI," is "hilarious," and the clip from his novelty party song, "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" (ha ha, "boys becoming men / men becoming wolves!").

Liz was also great in this episode, with: "You can't be a real women in this country. It's like those dove commercials never happened!" and defending Jenna's talent, saying, "This woman was a Mouseketeer, ma'am."

Tuesday Wrap-Up: The Devil, Mariska Hargitay, and Sabrina

Reaper:
This bug stuff was really unpleasant. I guess cockroaches on your toothbrush is reason #4053 not to sell your soul to the devil.

The best creepy Sock comment of the episode would have to be: "I was thinking after that, we could get a drink, have a few laughs, maybe launder some soiled clothing." Eew.

The highlight of this episode was that the devil's slide show presentation included a photo of him and Mariska Hargitay at the Emmys. Poor Mariska!

Speaking of Mariska...

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit:
Watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Cassiday "Beaver" Casablancas argue about who raped whom is all kinds of creepy. I have to hand it to Kyle Gallner, Beaver can be one messed-up dude when he wants to be. Of course he's the creep and Sabrina is good! Duh. I was just hoping that Harvey would show up at some point. I wonder how Harvey is doing...

Wow, L&O: SVU is ridiculous. It just layers one unpleasant thing on after another for a whole hour. Ick. What's even sillier is that the events of this show would take place over months and months in real life. And none of the main characters seem to have personalities.

I really need to stop watching the Law & Orders when they have guest stars I like. Last year I thought Criminal Intent was a disaster, and SVU is not much easier to take.

Chuck: More of a Shoe Occasion

Chuck:
Episode 3

This was a really good episode. Sending Chuck on missions a la Alias season 1 is genius.

Bullets:

• I liked the scene with Ellie, Morgan, and Awesome debating Chuck's future.
• Chuck: "So, sneakers? Or is this more of a shoe occasion?"
• Chuck's becoming more and more Seth-Cohen sarcastic.
• Chuck learning to tango from Captain Awesome was great.
• Waterman: "I'm too young to retire; too rich to work."
  Chuck: "That's quite a pickle you find yourself in, Waterman."
• Chuck: "It has a Bob Ross-ian quality. Bob Ross? You know, the guy from PBS..."
• Chuck: "Right, apparently, I learned the girl's part of this dance."
• Villain: "Now I have to kill you."
  Chuck: "Have to? No, no, I disagree. I disagree vehemently!"
• Chuck's boss gave him extra points for style since he fixed the computers in his tux.
• Casey: (after throwing a microwave at a bad guy) "Now that's what I call moving some merchandise."

Thursday Recap

Ugly Betty:
Another good episode. The best part was when Wilhelmina confronted Betty on the roof and Mark was making thunder noise with the metal sheet. Ha!

Other highlights:

• Mark: "Yeah, yeah, and I wish I knew Marlon Brando before he was fat." (Me too.)
• Christina: "Ten bucks says there's a coat in there made of dalmatian puppies."
• Since when does Bradford attend the Luke Danes School of Postponing Your Wedding To Reconnect with Your Long-Lost Daughter?

The Office: "Dunder Mifflin Infinity"
I loved this episode even more than last week's! I take back what I said about hour-long episodes of The Office...I enjoyed every second of this one. So many highlights:

• Can't believe Toby spilled the beans on Jim and Pam. He's so vengeful ;-)
• Dwight: "I don't see it. I think they both could do better."
• Michael: "All grown up and no place to go."
• Jim and Pam are still way too cute to stand. Air high-fives for crying out loud!
• Phyllis: "I couldn't see your hands."
• Jan and Ryan's little showdown. (Jan: "I love the beard; keep it forever.")
• Kelly telling Ryan she's pregnant. Ohhh, Kelly...
• Mr. Dunder is Uncle Mickey from DooL! Ha, and Mr. Mifflin killed himself.
• Michael and Dwight driving into the lake was hilarious! Dwight: "It can't mean that! That's a lake! There's no road here!"
• Ryan asking Pam out, saying, "Wear something nice." Pam turning him down and Jim's little wave when they were talking about him.
• Michael: "WHERE ARE THE TURLES?!"
• Michael: "I drove into a [bleeping] lake! Why? Because a machine told me to. A machine told me to drive in a lake and I did it."

Grey's Anatomy:
This episode was decidedly better than last week's premiere. There were, after all, no deer for Izzie to defibrillate.

I thought that the crystal meth baby storyline was particularly affecting, especially because it allowed us to see Alex Karev, champion of all babies, back in action. I hope that Grey's doesn't forget that he was heading toward switching his specialty from plastics to neonatal surgeries. Unfortunately, that storyline, which I really liked, becomes a lot less manageable now that Addison is gone. Anyway, I thought he did a great job diagnosing what was wrong with the baby, although I wonder how he knew what crystal meth smells like. And, dare I say it, I might be coming around to the horrendous facial hair.

It was also nice to see that Marissa Cooper's yard boy is still finding work. I thought his performance as the "I'm not that guy" drug addict was very good. I never cease to be astounded when "D.J." shows up on other things and is actually a pretty good actor, because those scenes between him and Mischa were freaking painful on The O.C.

And, I'd be remiss to not celebrate the guest appearance of Ben Vereen, whom I have loved since I was about two years old and an avid fan of Zoobilee Zoo.

What irked me (and only me, from what I can tell from reading critics and other blogs) was Mama Burke's omniscient observations about everyone who stopped to talk to her. First of all, she was out of line dressing down Meredith for what she said when announcing that Burke and Christina's wedding was off. Look, lady, if your son leaves his fiancee at the alter when the whole wedding was completely his idea, then he has coming to him whatever her best friend feels like saying. And I was also bothered that she seemed to instantly ascertain Derek and George's romantic situations...especially since I'm still not entirely sure what their problems are.

Premiere Watch '07: 30 Rock

A few weeks after its fantastic 1st season won the Emmy for Best Comedy, 30 Rock picked up right where it left off last year. The second season opener featured a guest appearance by Jerry Seinfeld, and if his appearance on the show can help to hook more viewers on 30 Rock, that will be a victory for us all.

30 Rock's strength is that, like The Office and Arrested Development, it has a great cast of kooky characters with very well-defined niches. Tina Fey is one of my heroes, I've previously documented my unnatural love for Tracy Morgan, Kenneth and Jenna are both perfect for what they are, and Alec Baldwin could not nail this role any harder.

My favorite Tracy moment of episode 1 was when he was explaining how he likes to help transvestite prostitutes better their lives (encouraging them to go to computer school, study to be a court reporter, etc.).

Best line: "You can be a freaky-deeky and still do data entry!"

In a season when several pilots (Big Shots, Dirty Sexy Money) are squeezing all the sleazy jokes they can out of transvestite hookers, it was wildly refreshing to see 30 Rock take the whole theme in an entirely different direction. Thank you, Tina Fey et. al., for having a fresh voice.

Other highlights:

• I enjoyed the computerized Jerry Seinfeld guest appearances in all NBC shows. It seems like everyone else has ended up in Heroes anyway, so why not him?
• Jack: "She needs to lose 30 pounds or gain 60. Anything in between has no place on television." (What's frightening is that, if you think about it, he's completely right.)
• Kenneth was so cute grinning at Jerry Seinfeld.
• Tracy: "Ask my wife if she's sleeping with D.L. Hughley." (Hmm, I'm thinking that this isn't a random mention since D.L. was on NBC's other 'sketch show' show Studio 60.)
• Jack: "Ha ha! You're going to buy NBC! Like you have $4 million just lying around..." (Ouch.)
• Jack: "There are no bad ideas in brainstorming, Lemon."
• Liz sounds like Jerry Seinfeld when she cries.
• Tracy (when he sees Liz in the white wedding dress): "Oh no! Did a Korean person die?"

This episode was a promising start to season 2. As far as I'm concerned, Tina Fey can take over the world.

Premiere Rating: 8 / 10

Wednesday Wrap-Up

Gossip Girl: "Poison Ivy"
This episode was out to prove to us that not only are these kids rich and pretty, but they're also smart. At least some of them are... it doesn't look like Nate's going to be winning any academic decathlons any time soon. I loved though that one of Blair's lackeys turned out to be some sort of science genius! I didn't see that coming.

Best Dan Line:
"Dartmouth is my dream. And I've never asked Dartmouth, but I believe it's dreaming of me."

I seriously love this show:

• Jenny's singing group performing an a Capella version of "Glamorous" was hilarious.
• In my opinion, Nate has very few redeemable qualities, but, in his defense, his father is one ginormous tool.
• If Serena gets into Brown, I wonder if she'll ever run into Summer Roberts, another of Josh Schwartz's creations.
• Look at the belt Blair's wearing with her field hockey uni!
• Gym teacher: "I'm running out of colors here, Blair."
• Chuck: "Why should I be chosen to be an usher? I'm Chuck Bass."
• These kids are phenomenally good at social networking.
• The Ostroff Treatment Center is run by Dr. Donald Ostroff. I'm sure the similarities between his name and that of Dawn Ostroff, head of The CW, aren't coincidental, but I'm not really sure what we're supposed to make of them.
• I liked Eric's attempts to sell his "trip to Florida" cover story: "Go Marlins!" and "Save the manatees!"
• Blair reached a whole new level of bitchiness tonight outing Serena for her alleged rehab stint. At least Blair got her facts wrong and didn't reveal that it was actually Serena's little brother in the center... that would have really been a new low for her, surpassing even the mention of Cedric the Cabbage Patch Doll.
• Mrs. van der Woodsen was a little heavy-handed with the application of her blue eye make-up today...
• Why does Nate always sleep on Chuck's couch?

Dirty Sexy Money: "The Lions"

Ooh, more intrigue among the rich of NYC. It's kind of intense watching all the excess and debauchery of GG and then DSM. We still don't know much about who killed Dutch, and Tripp gave Nick a lead that is steering him in other directions, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Darlings end up right in the middle of it again.

We got some interesting insight into Tripp's character in this episode. He knows about his wife's multi-decade affair with his best friend, but still acts as though he doesn't to spare her feelings. That's actually kind of sweet. The scene where he told Nick to try her birthday as the combination for Dutch's briefcase was wrenching. I wonder if maybe one or two of the "Darlings" might turn out to actually be Nick's half siblings. That would be scary.

Highlights and observations:

• Nick's daughter is not Dakota Fanning's little sister anymore.
• Juliet: "I want to be normal-sized and independent."
• Rev. Brian: "She'll take you back if I have to shoot you at her with a cannon."
• Tripp talking Swedish to the illegitimate son and then saying, "Is he deaf? Was he in the train with his parents when it crashed?"

Private Practice: "In Which Sam Receives an Unexpected Visitor..."

Ok, so, Private Practice: take 3. I'd say this episode was the best so far, but still not great. They really seemed to stumble onto something there with the switched baby story. All of the guest actors playing the parents of the babies were great and the scene between the two mothers was devastating. If the episode had ended there, I'd have been left thinking, "Hmm, that was pretty good!" But the episode did NOT end there, no matter how much we wished it had.

Instead, we had to sit through 10+ more minutes of the annoying main characters being annoying. To a person, the main characters on this show are mopey, whiny and pathetic. I loved it when Cooper told Violet that her "fatal flaw" was "honesty." Because here I've been thinking that her fatal flaw is extreme, paralyzing patheticness! She needs to get a grip now. The guy who dumped her cannot possibly be worth all of this. Also badly in need of a grip is Naomi, whose character was strong and tough in last year's backdoor pilot, but is now just a more surly version of Violet.

And Tim Daly's "I like real women" speech just seemed like awful writing to me. It came out of absolutely nowhere and you could just tell that there was no reason this man would feel the need to give this women this long, heartfelt speech other than the fact that the people behind PP thought that their audience of 40-something women would eat it up. Gag, gag, gag.

And I'm not sure I'd want my doctor to be wearing flip flops.

Pilot Watch '07: Pushing Daisies

Basically everyone in the world who has seen an advanced screener of Pushing Daisies has been extolling its virtues as loudly as they can for months. Thus, my expectations for this pilot probably couldn't have been any higher. Fortunately, "Pie Lette" (how cute is that name?) every bit lived up to the hype.

Pushing Daisies was charming almost beyond belief. The storybook feel seemed very unique. The characters were quirky and likable (not just quirky). The story and plot devices were inventive. The dialogue was snappy and wittier than I was expecting. The cinematic value was top-notch, with gorgeous, vibrant colors and a dream-like quality. The whole thing was as sweet as the pies they sell at the Pie Hole.

Pushing Daisies reminded me a lot of a Tim Burton film. It seemed very much along the lines of Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: strange but unexpectedly touching. It's a formula that I warmly welcome to television.

If I had to make one complaint, it would be that the narrated back story seemed to last a while and it might have taken them just a bit too long to get Lee Pace on the screen. But once he appeared, the show was good to go.

Something about Ned and Chuck reminded me of Ed and Carol from Ed. I guess the actors look vaguely similar (in their faces), but I think it was more the purity of the love story. Ned remembering his time with young Chuck was a lot like Ed remembering the time he first saw Carol and she took his breath away.

I also really enjoyed Chi McBride in this episode. The Emerson/Ned banter reminded me of Shawn and Gus from Psych. Emerson and Ned made Pushing Daisies much funnier that I was anticipating.

Other thoughts:

• The dog looked pretty good for having been run over by a tractor trailer. And I do find it unrealistic that Ned managed to keep his dog for 20 years without ever touching it, even by accident.
• Gotta love a show that uses pretty language like, "Chuck came ready-made from the Play Doh Fun Factory of life."
• Ned's accidental responsibility for Chuck's dad's death is reminiscent of Lana Lang's parents being killed in the meteor shower that brought Clark Kent to earth on Smallville.
• What did people make of two seemingly healthy neighbors just keeling over and dying on the exact same day?
• I really, really want Cantaloupe the Chow! Cantaloupe is an adorable name for a dog. It's right up there with Saffron from Damages.
• Logistical questions: Does just one person die for everyone who stays alive or do more people keep dying? And assuming Ned brings them back to life and never touches them again, do the "alive again" people live indefinitely or could they die again?
• For some reason, I really love the name "Boutique Travel Travel Boutique."
• Ned: "I hate to be a bad host, but I'm kind of exhausted from chasing your coffin..."
• Chuck's last name is Charles! Perhaps we're related :-)
• Ned: "It was most definitely on the menu; it was the Special of the Day--can we drop this metaphor?"
• Emerson: "We all have childhood issues--I've got the full subscription."
• Emerson: "Bitch! I was in proximity!" (I was also afraid that keeping Chuck alive would have caused Emerson to die, so thankfully that was not the case.)
• I haven't heard "petard" used since Ed.
• This pilot was showed in the opposite manner of "limited commercial interruptions." It seemed like there was a commercial break every 4 minutes.
• Chuck's aunt: "I can hold my breath for a long time." He he, she was a synchronized swimmer after all.
• Morgue guy: "Aren't you the dog expert?"

Basically flawless.

Premiere Rating: 9.5 / 10
(I deducted 0.5 just because I'm sure there could have been something that would have made me love the episode even more...like a guest appearance by James McAvoy or something.)

Reaper: Week 2

Reaper: "Charged"

While I still really enjoyed this show, I thought this episode dropped off quite a bit from the pilot. It seemed to drag on for a while; it felt like Sam took forever just to open the stinking devil box.

The episode was still funny though. And it contained kind of a nasty little shout out to Delaware, which I feel I should mention after spending 4 years there:

Sam: "Ben, can you find Delaware on a map?" Ouch.

Premiere Watch '07: Aliens in America

Aliens in America offered up a pretty good pilot. There were definitely some funny and sweet moments. The teenage misfit theme of the show reminded me vaguely of Malcolm in the Middle, but I think Malcolm was funnier than AiA.

Raja was a highlight. He had a very good delivery of both his comedic and emotional material. The scene with him being shanghaied in his classroom was really good. I was a little lukewarm on Justin, though, because he seemed over-the-top at times ("Why would you say that about Grammie?!"). He did have several of the funniest lines, like when he said he told Raja things he hadn't even told the "guys from chorus," and when he was so excited that one boy in the locker room took a step to the side so he could fit in the circle.

I thought that Scott Patterson a.k.a. Luke Danes was miscast... which, perhaps, is why he wasn't originally the guy cast in this role. Maybe the problem, though, is that I'll always find Scott Patterson to be miscast in any role that doesn't involve him wearing a backwards baseball hat and a flannel shirt and yelling at everyone.

Oh and I also have to point out how creepy it was that Justin's guidance counselor was Clarence Wiedman from Veronica Mars! That guy is so scary! I'd be terrified if he was my guidance counselor!

Maybe the problem here wasn't AiA, but the fact that I'm having misfit/nerdy boy overload. Almost every new show I'm watching is about a misfit/nerdy boy (Chuck, Reaper, AiA, Pushing Daisies, Gossip Girl, etc.). I'm normally all about the misfit/nerdy boys, but even I think this might be excessive. Where are all the misfit/nerdy girls on TV?

So, good start for Aliens in America, but I wouldn't say that I'm addicted (yet).

Premiere Rating: 7 / 10

Week 2: Chuck and Heroes

Chuck:
"Chuck Versus the Helicopter"

Pretty good episode #2 for Chuck. I liked that we got a little more information about what in the heck is going on... Bryce was a "rogue" agent, which is why the NSA had no qualms about taking him out. And after a stressful hour of not knowing who to trust, we are now fairly sure that Sarah is not also a rogue agent. So that's good.

This episode was probably not quite as funny as the pilot, but I enjoyed myself. I liked how they made poor Chuck exist in a state of panic for basically the entire episode. That's gotta be exhausting. The standout moment of the episode was when Chuck, desperate to keep his family from eating the souffle he believes to be poisoned, accidentally successfully pulls the table cloth out from under everything on the table.

Bullets (which is an appropriate term to use when reviewing a spy show):

• Now Chuck has a voice over too? I don't like it. Thankfully it only served to get us into the episode and then quickly disappeared.
• They sure played the heck out of Spoon's "Don't Make Me a Target" and Gnarls Barkley's "Gone Daddy Gone."
• As they watch Chuck and Morgan play matador and bull: NSA lady, "Our national secrets were sent to an idiot." CIA guy, "At least they weren't sent to his friend."
• Holy crap!!! Chuck knows what happened to Oceanic Flight 815! As in, the plane that crashed on Lost! This is blowing my mind: Lost is on a different network! But, hey, could Chuck please just tell us what happened to the plane, because that would save us a lot of time and frustration? (And--reading too much into this--Chuck got his knowledge from the government, so the government must know about Flight 815, which adds yet another creepy layer to the Lost saga.)
• The bomber should hide the incinerators better. If you sit the thing right on the backseat, of course people are going to find it in time to get out of the car.
• I liked when Sarah said, "You sister is awesome," because, of course, Captain Awesome had to concur.
• Chuck: "That was the doctor, huh? He's probably not dead."

Heroes: "Lizards"

Ugh. I think I liked this episode even less than last week's. At least I had lowered my expectations accordingly.

I really don't like much of anybody on this show anymore. I like Kensei, but I'm sure I probably wouldn't if anyone other than David Anders were playing him. I'm especially annoyed with Claire. I kind of want "The Company" to find her and subject her to lots of tests just so she'll learn her lesson. And I'm so over all the Petrellis.

Oh, one character I still like is Mrs. Bennet. She had the line of the night:

"We do have a colander, dear. We don't need to get flashy."

Other:

• What newspaper would publish a photo of a someone who had just fallen to their death lying in a pool of blood on the pavement?
• Ando and Parkman have never met?
• Well, telling Maya that she's full of evil was really helpful, healer. Because these people weren't whiny enough.
• Does "I wouldn't do that!" in Japanese really sound like, "Wooaboodaboodaboo?" Because how could anyone take themselves seriously saying that?
• I find Hiro's antics just so delightfully amusing... [Now infuse that statement with as much sarcasm as you can, and you'll see where I'm coming from.]
• Maya needs waterproof mascara. That stuff is dripping all over her face! ;-)
• So the assassin appears to have all the powers, like Peter and Sylar. I assume it's neither of them though. There, I tried to care about something that's going on in this show. Now I'll go back to mocking it...
• Geez. Thank goodness Sark/Kensei appears to have the same power as Claire, or Heroes would have just lost me as a viewer. But, why does Hiro do such a poor job of using his power? He can stop time, yet he just let the arrows fly right into Sark. Come on.
• Mohinder never met the Haitian?
• Eeeeew, eew, eew! I so did not need to see Claire cut off her toe with scissors. But, um, how powerful are those scissors anyway? They cut through freaking bone!

Premiere Watch '07: Moonlight

I didn't really know what to expect from the Moonlight pilot since it sounds like they've been reworking it until very recently. I've never been a big vampire show fan. I did like the very few episodes of Angel I've seen, but I think that was primarily because David Boreanaz is cute. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by Moonlight. I guess it's not the best show ever, but I was entertained and I think it could turn into something pretty cool. It's definitely better than NBC's Friday night offering of Las Vegas.

First things first, it was nice to have Jason Dohring back. It seemed like his Moonlight character was basically Logan Echolls as a 400-year-old vampire, and that's fine with me. So now we know that there are apparently at least two ways to become the "obligatory psychotic jackass":

• a) being the abused son of a famous movie star, or
• b) being a 400-year-old rich vampire.

Interesting how that works out. I thought it was impressive that although Logan was only in about 10 minutes of the episode, he got about 85% of all the good one-liners. That's Logan for you. My favorites were:

• "You're only 90; you haven't been chased through the streets with torches."
• "What is this, like nonfat soy vegan blood?"
• "Now we got the food mouthing off about the farmer."

And, I loved that in addition to giving Jason Dohring another job, the Moonlight people gave Veronica Mars fans a shout-out by having the murdered girl be a student at Hearst College, which is none other than the college of choice for Veronica, Logan, Mac, Wallace, and Piz. But, seriously, how messed up is this poor fictional college? First there were the rapes, than the murder of the dean, and now the vampire-esque murders of two students? Geez. Stay the heck away from this school, people! And especially its teaching assistants, who as it turned out were behind the dean's murder and the murder of the two girls! (Seriously, how great would it have been if Mick had run across a certain tiny blond P.I. also investigating the murders?)

Another thing I loved about Moonlight, as the hardcore Alias fan that I am, was the appearance of Marshall Flinkman as Beth's camera guy! Yea for Marshall! I had just wondering when and where he'd show up again. Now Moonlight just has to increase his role a bit. Heck, let's recenter the show around Marshall and Logan. That would be hilarious.

Otherwise, Mick (Alex O'Loughlin) was easy on the eyes and did a pretty good job as the broody hero. I was left a bit confused though about whether Beth is Mick's love interest or like a surrogate daughter. Because if she's both, that's pretty gross. And I don't see how she could have witnessed that epic vampire-on-vampire battle and doesn't really seem to remember it. Seriously, she of all people should know vampires exist.

And I could live without the Celine Dion and Evanescence...although I guess I should just be thankful that they didn't use "Young Folks" too.

Premiere Rating: 6.5 / 10