Buckets of Exposition
Sunday, October 17, 2010
TV Week in Review: October 10 - 14
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)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Week in TV: October 04 - 08
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
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)
Saturday, September 25, 2010
This Week in TV: September 20 - 24
- Chuck: A captured & tied-up Sarah trying to type an urgent text message to Chuck using her toes.
- Hawaii Five-0: Several mind-blowing stunts, most involving vehicles, but the best one being the trunk slide explained above.
- Parenthood: Adam walks in his front door to see his wife consoling a sobbing friend who’s going through a separation, that woman’s son jumping on a trampoline indoors, and his own son being hyper and making constant noise with an annoying whistle. Adam just backs out quietly, goes out to his car, reclines the seat, and listens to the radio.
- Parenthood: Adam comes home another night to see his house messy but empty. A note from his wife says she’s taken the kids, including the annoying trampoline kid, out to eat so that he can have some quiet time. He reclines on the sofa with a beer and starts to watch TV but realizes something isn’t right. Next, you see his family at the restaurant, and Adam walks in and joins them.
- Fringe: Even after Olivia let him go, the cab driver still hung around to see what happened to Olivia.
- Warehouse 13: Claudia starting to cry because Artie got shot. They really are forming a pseudo father-daughter type relationship.
- Warehouse 13: Pete getting emotional and not being able to hear the rest of Myka's resignation letter after she calls him the best big brother she never had. They could have gone the romantic route with Pete & Myka, but I very much prefer them continuing with their relationship being more like brother & sister.
- House: Any scene involving Cuddy without her clothes on (and, there were several).
- Glee: The short cheerleader with Down Syndrome (I think) delivering some hilarious commentary during Finn's embarrassing audition for the Cheerios squad.
- A "You Again" commercial during Glee: Betty White, co-star of the new movie "You Again," saying, "Okay, I'm going to level with you... Glee Club was for dorks."
Saturday, September 18, 2010
My Top "100" List of Greatest TV Characters of the Last 20 Years (Well, The Top 38 I've Finished Ranking So Far)
Now, the TV Guide Network has assembled their top 25 greatest TV characters, but you have to watch to learn who they picked. So, I thought I'd publish my list, even if it's not finished yet. I don't have 100 ranked yet, but I have more than TV Guide. So, below is my top 38 all-time best character list. Maybe, I'll actually finish the list some day. And, if I do, I can't guarantee the top 38 will still be in this same order. But, for now (and yes, I am a geek)...
38. Ranger Marcus Cole (Babylon 5)
37. James "Sawyer" Ford (Lost)
36. Attache Vir Cotto (Babylon 5)
35. Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (The West Wing)
34. Attorney Douglas Wambaugh (Picket Fences)
33. Detective George Francisco (Alien Nation)
32. Colonel Jack O'Neill (Stargate: SG-1)
31. Dr. John "J.D." Dorian (Scrubs)
30. Benjamin Linus (Lost)
29. Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Lost)
28. Admiral William Adama (Battlestar Galactica)
27. Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
25. (tie) Judge Henry Bone (Picket Fences)
25. (tie) Dr. Juliet Burke (Lost)
23. (tie) Dr. Jack Shepherd (Lost)
23. (tie) John Locke (Lost)
22. Press Secretary C.J. Cregg (The West Wing)
21. CIA Agent Chuck Bartowski (Chuck)
20. Detective Vic Mackey (The Shield)
18. (tie) Dr. Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap)
18. (tie) Attorney Ally McBeal (Ally McBeal)
17. Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly TV series / Serenity feature film)
16. Dr. Gregory House (House, M.D.)
15. Attorney John Cage (Ally McBeal)
14. Attorney Allan Shore (The Practice & Boston Legal)
13. Lieutenant Worf (Star Trek: The Next Generation & Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
10. (tie) Lieutenant Commander Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
10. (tie) Constable Odo (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
10. (tie) Luke Danes (Gilmore Girls)
09. Commander Susan Ivanova (Babylon 5)
08. Security Chief Michael Garibaldi (Babylon 5)
07. Captain John Sheridan (Babylon 5)
06. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
05. President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet (The West Wing)
04. Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls)
03. Ambassador Delenn (Babylon 5)
02. Ambassador Londo Mollari (Babylon 5)
01. Ambassador G'Kar (Babylon 5)
And, without listing the individual characters, the remaining candidates for a future top 100 will likely come from the following additional shows:
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Commander-in-Chief, Crusade, Fringe, Highlander: The Series, Jericho, Leverage, Men In Trees, Moonlight, The O.C., The Practice, South Park, and The 4400.
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And, in case you're wondering what my overly-analytical, super-neurotic grading system is...
Using Apple Numbers (the Mac version of MS Excel), I kept a spreadsheet of my list of characters, the shows they were in, my grading categories, etc...
- I listed the total number of TV seasons in which each character appeared in one or more shows
- I listed the number of TV movies and/or feature films in which each character appeared in a separate column
- I graded each character on a scale of 1 to 13 in the following five categories (with 13 = A+, 9 = B, 5 = C-, 1 = F, etc.)
- Significance: How significant was the character to the overall concept and/or story arc of the show.
- Depth/Eloquence: How "deep," emotional, multi-faceted, and/or articulate was the character.
- Character Development: How much did the character grow, change, improve, evolve, devolve, cope with, or have their backstory revealed.
- Performance: How well did the actor/actress play the role.
- Like-ability: How likable, cool, relatable, honorable, or humorous was the character.
- 6 X Significance
- 5 X Depth/Eloquence
- 4 X Character Development
- 3 X Performance
- 2 X Like-ability
- 1 X Longevity (square root of # of TV seasons plus square root of # of movies, rounded to 2 decimal places)
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Movie Review: Toy Story 3
Sunday, May 23, 2010
My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 6
Season 6 - Favorites
[6.01] LA X (Part 1)
[6.02] LA X (Part 2)
[6.07] Dr. Linus
Season 6 - Honorable Mentions
[6.04] The Substitute
[6.05] Lighthouse
[6.06] Sundown
[6.08] Recon
I loved the two-part / two-hour season premiere because of the introduction of the sideways universe. It had a lot of "Easter Eggs" with old characters, sometimes ones who had died, coming back for an appearance in the new timeline. I like seeing how some things turned out the same, how some things turned out completely opposite, and how somethings were similar but with a twist. It was very amusing, very nostalgic.
"Dr. Linus" was, by far, the most Lost-like episode of the series. It contained a redemption storyline, it showed parallels between the prime timeline and the alternate timeline, it had some of our characters back on the beach, and I think it's the only episode of the season to have a classic music montage near the end (I love those). This felt like the old classic days of Lost. Too bad it couldn't last...
I liked "The Substitute," "Lighthouse," and "Sundown" because of the information we learned about the numbers, Candidates, and Jacob's use of the lighthouse mirrors to observe the Candidates. Actually, I don't even remember right now why I liked "Sundown," but I marked it an 8 out 10 at GEOS.tv at the time, so I must have liked it.
I got a real kick out of the Sawyer-centric episode "Recon." It was so cool seeing him be a police officer with Miles has his partner. While I would have been *thrilled* to see Juliet in this episode, having James hook up with Charlotte (who looks much better off-island) was a decent consolation prize.
No, "Ab Aeterno," the Richard-centric episode, is neither a favorite nor an honorable mention. Maybe once I get some distance from it, I'll like it better. I will admit, it had some great production quality. Out of *all* the episodes, it was the one that felt the most like a movie. It had some of the most beautiful vistas of the island since season 1. It had a great, romantic love story between Richard and his wife. And, Nestor Carbonell should get an Emmy nomination for carrying this episode with excellence. *But*, in the final season, when there's such little time to conclude so many subplots and solve so many mysteries, I do not care enough about Richard to see him get an entire episode when the only thing we learn about him that is important in the grand scheme of things is that Jacob made him immortal -- something we *already* knew.
My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 5
Season 5 - Favorites
[5.08] LaFleur
[5.09] Namaste
[5.10] He's Our You
[5.11] Whatever Happened, Happened
[5.13] Some Like It Hoth
[5.14] The Variable
[5.15] Follow the Leader
[5.16] The Incident (Part 1)
[5.17] The Incident (Part 2)
Season 5 - Honorable Mentions
[5.01] Because You Left
[5.02] The Lie
[5.03] Jughead
[5.04] The Little Prince
[5.05] This Place Is Death
[5.06] 316
[5.07] The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham
Yes, that's no mistake. I count every episode of season 5 as either a favorite or an honorable mention except [5.12] "Dead Is Dead." Even that episode was still decent. The season is just that good.
Basically, season 5 is the time travel season. On the island, Locke, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles, Daniel Faraday, and Charlotte are bouncing around in time. According to Lostpedia, they experienced at least 14 time flashes. In those flashes, one or more people each got to witness the birth of Aaron, the washing ashore of Rousseau's science group on the island, the presence of an atom bomb on the island in the 1950s, and the Tawaret statue being intact on the island in an earlier century.
I love the time flashes. The only thing better is when the time flashes stop, and the survivors join the Dharma Initiative in 1974. It was great seeing James (hard to still call him Sawyer at this point) taking up a respected leadership position and even better to see him in a relationship with Juliet. It's funny; after three seasons of developing the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle (and, maybe a few months of Juliet just barely making it a "love trapezoid"), all it took was a few scenes of seeing James and Juliet together for their relationship to be just as believable as Sun and Jin's or Desmond and Penny's.
When Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid time flash back to 1977, after the other Losties have lived comfortably in the Dharma Initiative for three years, there's this horrible sense that fun time is over. The game is back on. While the final hours of season 5 aren't as action-packed as season 4, it's even better because of the tension between characters, the philosophical aspect of fate vs. free will, the nostalgia of seeing the Swan station being built, and the big question as to whether the group could -- or should -- try to change their pasts. And, the final moments of the episode are the most jaw-dropping and gut-wrenching of the entire series, and again, it's because of the believability of the James/Juliet relationship and how much Juliet was my favorite character.
Other highlights of the season include: Hurley trying to write The Empire Strikes Back for George Lucas, finding Rose and Bernard (with Vincent) who are hiding from both Dharma and the Others because they have "retired," Miles getting to interact with his dad and finding out he wasn't so bad after all, the horror of knowing that Eloise Hawking killed her own son, getting to see Hurley drive a fully intact Dharma van, and Hurley asking Miles questions about time travel that some of the audience were probably wondering too.
My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 4
My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 3
My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 2
Season 2 - Favorite
[2.07] The Other 48 Days
Season 2 - Honorable Mentions
[2.04] Everybody Hates Hugo
[2.05] ...And Found
[2.16] The Whole Truth
[2.17] Lockdown
[2.19] S.O.S.
I like "The Other 48 Days" the best out of Season 2 because it shows us something completely different -- what happened to the people in the tail section. We see that there were actually several survivors. Some were abducted by The Others, including the kids. We're introduced to whole new set of characters: Ana Lucia, Libby, Mr. Eko, Rose's husband Bernard, and the flight attendant Cindy. Considering that Ana Lucia, Libby, and Eko all get killed, Cindy joins the Others, and Bernard eventually "retires" with Rose, the tail section story doesn't really add much in the grand scheme of things, but it's an interesting diversion, especially considering how it's woven so intelligently into the main storyline with the Tailies finding Sawyer, Michael, and Jin after the raft explosion.
I like "Everybody Hates Hugo" because it focuses on one of my favorite characters, Hurley. It begins with a dream sequence in which he's speaking Korean, and Jin, standing beside a guy in a chicken outfit, speaks perfect English. Later, we see what happens when Hurley wins the lottery and how it affects his responsibility in rationing the Swan Station food stash. Many of my favorite scenes in Lost are the "music montages" in which emotional music plays over a scene without dialogue. They're occasionally done in slight slow motion and usually involve departures, reunions, mourning, celebration, etc. The music montage in this episode is Hurley giving out *all* of the food to the entire group of survivors in one night, which brightens everyone's mood and basically turns a normal night on the island into a party. It's one of Hurley's finest moments.
I like "...And Found" and "The Whole Truth" simply because they focus on Sun & Jin who are always interesting characters to learn more about, even when they're story doesn't seem that important in the grand scheme of things. "Lockdown" is good because we get to see the map drawn in invisible ink on the Swan Station blast door and see some interesting interactions between Locke and Ben. "S.O.S." is unique because it's the only Bernard & Rose -centric episode.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
My Favorite Episodes of Lost - Season 1
- "Walkabout": The shocking revelation that Locke was confined to a wheelchair before coming to the island, which apparently healed him and allowed him to walk again.
- “House of the Rising Sun”: The Korean woman, Sun Kwon, revealing to Michael (and, consequently, the audience) that she knows how to speak English but hasn’t told her husband Jin.
- “The Moth”: The redemption of drug-addicted Charlie where he chooses to throw the heroin in the fire and Locke says he’s proud of him.
- “...In Translation": Sun unexpectedly revealing to the rest of the castaways, including her husband, that she could speak English.
- "Numbers": Hurley being so desperate to have someone believe him that he confronts an armed & slightly insane Danielle Rousseau about the cursed numbers and then hugs her when she agrees that the numbers are cursed.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Anticipated Movies of 2010
- *** Iron Man 2 *** (May 07)
- The A-Team (June 11)
- Toy Story 3 (June 18)
- Harry Potter and Deathly Hollows, Part 1 (November 19)
- Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (December 10)
- Tron Legacy (December 17)
- She's Out of My League (March 12)
- How to Train Your Dragon (March 26)
- Clash of the Titans (March 26)
- Kick-Ass (April 16)
- The Last Airbender (July 02)
- Inception (July 16)
- Red (October 22)
- Hot Tub Time Machine (March 26)
- Date Night (April 09)
- The Losers (April 23)
- Robin Hood (May 14)
- The Karate Kid (June 11)
- The Sorcerer's Apprentice (July 16)
- Salt (July 23)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Pondering About Lost: Red, the Third Symbolic Color???
If you look up black & white at Lostpeida.wiki.com, there are a lot examples of the use of black & white. But, some examples introduce a third color... Red.
- There’s the joke Michael's nurse tells, “What’s white, black, and red all over?”
- There are three cars, one of each color, in Locke’s dad’s driveway.
- In a Desmond flashback, he & Eloise Hawking witness a man in red shoes getting killed. The man’s other clothing was black & white.
- I don’t remember this, but according to Lostpedia, Ben’s kitchen is red, white, and black.
- There are numerous examples of one character in a scene wearing black, another white, but sometimes a third character in the scene is wearing red.
- The creators of the show obviously make a big deal out of white & black, but as an homage & in-joke, they have also adopted the Star Trek tradition of “red shirts” being easily killed off.
So, what does the red mean? It could represent yet a third major entity, like Jacob & Smokey, that we still haven’t met yet. It could represent the blood that will be shed in the conflict between the two opposing sides. It could represent the survivors of Oceanic 815 being the variables in an equation that has constants on either side.
On another of my favorite shows, Babylon 5, “understanding” is one time described as a three-edged sword -- your side, their side, and the truth. I believe that’s what’s going on in Lost.
Smokey is angry, jaded, alone, single-minded, obsessed with getting home. He justifies his actions by advocating free-will. Jacob is entrenched in the island, paranoid about its protection (warranted or not), willing to observe & manipulate the lives of hundreds of innocent people and entrap & endanger them over his own beliefs. He’s set in his ways, and he’s brainwashed the Others with his philosophy. They’re the black & white, but I don’t think it makes either of them right.
I think our main characters represent the color red, the third edge of the sword, the truth. They represent a mix of good & evil, a mix of fate & free will, a mix of faith & rational thought. They are caught in the middle. And, either that means they will bring compromise & balance to the island, or they’ll be forced to choose sides in a battle that will end the conflict once & for all -- and only half will survive.
...Or, maybe, red in Lost doesn’t mean anything at all. :(
Pondering About Lost: Light & Dark May Not Equal Good vs. Evil
A common theme on the show has been black & white, dark & light. Here are just a few examples:
- the colors of backgammon pieces
- the white & black stones found beside the “Adam & Eve” skeletons in the caves
- the keys on a piano, played by several characters in the Lost universe (including Jack & his fiance, Daniel Faraday, and Jack’s alternate timeline son)
- the colors in the Dharma logo and the Lost title screen
- Rose & Bernard
- appearances of animals or stuffed animals that are black & white including: stuffed panda, stuffed whale, polar bears (which have black skin but appear white because of their translucent fur), white rabbits with black numbers on them, etc.
- the black & white rocks on the scale in Jacob’s seaside cave
- *numerous* examples of characters in the same scene wearing clothes of opposite colors -- one character in black & another in white or one character wearing something that has both white & black in it
One might automatically assume that this theme implies a conflict of good vs. evil. That is definitely a possibility. However, I have a hard time seeing any character in this show, even Jacob and the Smoke Monster, as being completely good or completely evil.
Some assume that Jacob is the good guy and that Smokey is the bad guy. But, Jacob has also encouraged the Others to do some awfully dark things through his cryptic lists. It’s still unclear whether he sanctioned the Others to commit kidnapping, torture, and murder, but he never stopped them either. When face-to-face with Ben, he totally dismissed Ben’s work & devotion, but if he didn’t approve of Ben’s leadership, why didn’t he ever intervene to expel Ben from power? I’ll agree that Jacob seems to have better intentions and is the lesser of two “evils,” but his hands are *not* clean.
Some assume that the opposite is true, Smokey could be good, Jacob could be bad. Smokey has killed a multitude of people. Even if you could argue that some of his kills were done in self defense or were acts of justice on behalf of others, I keep thinking about his ruthless slaughter of Mr. Eko. Had Mr. Eko committed some atrocities? Yes. But, he had turned his life around. He redeemed himself. So did Sawyer & Sayid, and Smokey hasn’t killed them -- yet. How could Smokey possibly justify killing Eko?
So, what’s the deal with white & black, light vs. dark? I think the theme implies two diametrically opposed philosophies. I don’t think it’s good vs. evil. I think order vs. chaos would be too much of a ripoff of another favorite show of mine. I think fate vs. free will is close but not quite it (I may speak to that in a separate blog entry). Regardless or what it is, I think the colors represent two sides that are equal & opposite, regardless of what their motivations are. But, I don’t think either side is completely good nor completely evil. The conflict is about something...else.