TV Week in Review: October 10 - 14

This past week was an improvement over the previous week.  Chuck, with its great writing and use of characters, had its best episode of the season so far.  It also helped that Jeff and Lester were absent this week (I know, I know, most fans love Jeffster; I prefer the spy stuff).  Parenthood maintained its high quality.  Stargate: Universe improved.  Glee, for a change, had a coherent story, good character development, better songs than its had recently, and a lack of the over-rated Sue Sylvester interference.  It went from bottom two for three weeks in a row to number four this week.

The middle of the pack shuffled around a little this week with Hawaii Five-0 faltering a little but Cougar Town being a little better than usual.  No Ordinary Family has potential -- I think -- but it still fails to really impress me.  I'm beginning to lose my patience with The Event and Undercovers.  The Event seems to be trying too hard to be a deep conspiracy and mythology show, but it's missing the mark a bit.  Undercovers has the opposite problem in that it could use a little conspiracy or mythology because its procedural, mission-of-the-week format seems stale when compared to Chuck's already developed storyline.  But, shows need time to develop, so I'm not saying I'm giving up on any of these shows quite yet.

Caprica is starting to feel just as dark and depressing as Battlestar Galactica, if not worse.  And, with virtually every character being edgy, corrupt, troubled, or misguided, I'm having trouble finding a protagonist I can really invest in.  Sanctuary opened its third season with the conclusion of last season's bizarre and disappointing two-part season finale about a giant sea spider named Big Bertha creating islands and causing a tidal wave in the Indian Ocean.  I can't believe they spent three hours on that story, but I'm glad they can finally move on to something else which will hopefully be better.

I totally forgot to include the South Park season premiere from the previous week, but it wasn't great.  This past week though it made fun of Jersey Shore which managed to feel funny and relevant even though I've never watched a second of Jersey Shore (and would never want to).

Week of October 10 - 14
01.  (A-)  Chuck  (s4 ep04)
02.  (B+)  Parenthood  (s2 ep05)
03.  (B+)  Stargate: Universe  (s2 ep03)
04.  (B+)  Glee  (s2 ep04)
05.  (B)  Fringe  (s3 ep04)
06.  (B)  Cougar Town  (s2 ep04)
07.  (B)  South Park  (s14 ep09)
08.  (B)  House  (s7 ep04)
09. (tie)  (B)  Survivor  (s21 ep05)
09. (tie)  (B)  Mythbusters  (s8 ep14)
11.  (B-)  Hawaii Five-0  (s1 ep04)
12.  (B-)  No Ordinary Family  (s1 ep03)
13.  (B-)  Caprica  (s2 ep02)
14.  (B-)  Undercovers  (s1 ep04)
15.  (C+)  The Event  (s1 ep04)
16.  (C)  Sanctuary  (s3 ep 01)

Week in TV: October 04 - 08

Last week was a big mash of mediocre.  Since it was the third episode in the season for a lot of shows, hopefully they were just cost-cutting after blowout season premieres.

I know the 3rd episode of Chuck felt a lot like a "bottle show" with many scenes happening in air ducts of the new Buy More.  It was still good, but a slight dip in quality compared to the first two episodes of season four and the 4th episode I just watched tonight.  Hmm.  At least part of that may be due to Jeff & Lester...  They were back in full force last week, and the episode wasn't as good.  They were completely absent this week, and the episode was awesome.  There's more to it than that, but that makes feel better about being the only person on the planet who doesn't like the hijinks of the Buy More crew.

On the bright side, Glee had a slight upswing in quality this past week.  I didn't like everything about the episode, but this time I had to fast forward through only two songs.  Stargate: Universe redeemed itself too.  Oddly, its 2nd episode was better than the season premiere.

Undercovers was by no means bad, but in the battle between Undercovers and imitation Nyquil, Undercovers couldn't keep me awake.  I kept having to rewind parts of the episode because I kept dozing off.  Undercovers has potential, but it needs some kind of spark that fellow spy show Chuck has. It's early enough that it may find it, but it's not there yet.  And, for the record, I don't take cough syrup for fun.  I was fighting a cold last week.  Kids, don't do drugs; stay in school.

Week of October 04 - 08
01.  (B)  Parenthood  (s2 ep04)
02.  (B)  Chuck  (s4 ep03)
03.  (B)  Hawaii Five-0  (s1 ep03)
04. {tie}  (B)  Fringe  (s3 ep03)
04. {tie}  (B)  House  (s7 ep03)
06.  (B-)  Stargate: Universe  (s2 ep02)
07. {tie}  (B-)  No Ordinary Family  (s1 ep02)
07. {tie}  (B-)  The Event  (s1 ep03)
07. {tie}  (B-)  Caprica  (season 2 premiere)
10. {tie}  (B-)  Survivor  (s21 ep04)
10. {tie}  (B-)  Cougar Town  (s2 ep03)
10. {tie}  (B-)  Glee  (s2 ep03)
13. (B-)  Undercovers  (s1 ep03)

Oh, and since I'm already one episode into the current week of October 11 - 15, I'm going to go ahead and say tonight's 4th episode of Chuck was at least an A-.

Week in TV: September 27 to October 01

I'm two weeks behind on rating episodes, so I'll skip the commentary and just stick to my ranks & grades...

Week of September 27 to October 01
01.  (B+)  Chuck  (s4 ep02)
02.  (B+)  Parenthood  (s2 ep03)
03. {tie}  (B)  Hawaii Five-0  (s1 ep02)
03. {tie}  (B)  Fringe  (s3 ep02)
03. {tie}  (B)  House  (s7 ep02)
06.  (B-)  No Ordinary Family  (series premiere)
07. {tie}  (B-)  Survivor  (s21 ep03)
07. {tie}  (B-)  Undercovers  (s1 ep02)
07. {tie}  (B-)  Cougar Town  (s2 ep02)
10.  (B-)  The Event  (s1 ep02)
11.  (B-)  Stargate: Universe  (season 2 premiere)
12.  (B-)  The Colony  (s2 ep10; season 2 finale)
13.  (C+)  Glee  (s2 ep02)