Mon, September 22, 2008
Bye Week
The fall premiere season provided us with a welcome week off last week – time to collect ourselves and reassess before the real gauntlet begins.
No new shows premiered this week, as a result of CW's decision to postpone the premieres of Valentine and Easy Money – a move slightly less sound than canceling them altogether, though that may yet occur. The result is a fine opportunity to look at the second or third episodes of some of the season's previous debuts.
Hole in the Wall keeps getting better – exactly as noisy and overproduced as it should be, and now some of the contestants are stealing an opportunity to hug Brooke Burns while they're all wet. It's absent from this week's lineup, however, which could mean it's gone for good, or just that Fox is doing some shuffling.
True Blood retains its arresting tone and captivating lead character, and little else about the show matters much. However, the "bad" vampires (the ones who look like refugees from some sort of biker/death metal rave) are beginning to feature more prominently, which could represent a stake through the heart of the all the show's cheeky carefree fun. As more of the show's vampire mythology is revealed, the potential builds for True Blood to veer off into dark and gloomy lore. Still, we can probably assume Alan Ball has seen Buffy and realizes the gaucheness inherent in ripping it off – so he may have some tricks up his sleeve yet.
Co-creator J.J. Abrams has said of Fringe that he prefers the second and third episodes to the pilot, because "they're much more focused." Perhaps, but episode two lacked some of the "wow" factor that made the pilot so much fun. It would be expensive to keep that up for a whole season, of course, but if it's going to taper off it would be nice for something equally interesting to take its place. The interplay between John Noble and Joshua Jackson is entertaining, but it remains somewhat unexplained why Jackson's character hasn't abandoned the whole project, since he was only pulled in under duress. Perhaps he's enjoying reconnecting with his dad – even though he hated his guts only a few days ago. It's telling that Jackson and Noble are the most interesting characters on the show: right now, they're the only ones with much to do. Anna Torv is scurrying around, half in the dark, attempting to serve as their handler while simultaneously trying to orient herself. Lance Reddick remains fascinating, but he operates mostly in the shadows. As fun as it would be, we can't expect an episode focused mainly around him. Everyone involved has promised a show that, in the words of EW's resident Lost fanboy Jeff Jensen, "won't get bogged down in its own mythology." So hopefully this means the situation with Massive Dynamic will be unveiled relatively soon and we can get past the period of attempting to discern the show's parameters and begin just enjoying its stories.
JoAnna Garcia of Privileged hit EW's Must List this week, which means someone is seeing past the show's pat debutante drama and appreciating its breakout star. The show airs on the CW network, directly after 90210, so it's never going to completely lose its teen squabbling and giddy boy-crush subplots, but the show's focus is on Garcia – her perspective and her journey – and she shows up to play. She's cute and savvy, with just the right amount of self-effacing. If Garcia was this enjoyable on Reba it's a good thing no one mentioned it, or we might have all ended up watching Reba.
Premiering This Week
Worst Week: CBS, Monday at 9:30 
The Mentalist: CBS, Tuesday at 9:00 
Knight Rider: NBC, Wednesday at 8:00
Gary Unmarried: CBS, Wednesday at 8:30
Little Britain USA: HBO, Sunday at 10:30
The Life & Times of Tim: HBO, Sunday at 11:00 
Returning This Week
How I Met Your Mother: CBS, Monday at 8:30
Boston Legal: ABC, Monday at 10:00
Without a Trace: CBS, Tuesday at 10:00
The New Adventures of Old Christine: CBS, Wednesday at 8:00
Criminal Minds: CBS, Wednesday at 9:00
The Office: NBC, Thursday at 9:00 
The Amazing Race: CBS, Sunday at 8:00
King of the Hill: Fox, Sunday at 8:30
Family Guy: Fox, Sunday at 9:00 
Dexter: Showtime, Sunday at 9:00
American Dad: Fox, Sunday at 9:30
Californication: Showtime, Sunday at 10:00
© onebee · all rights reserved
AC — Mon, 9/22/08 12:56pm
With all your appreciation of Lance Reddick, might I suggest checking him out in The Wire where his character is the exact opposite of every other character he's ever played or will ever play.
And speaking of The Wire, as fine as some of those other shows are, it's an absolute shame it didn't finally get recognized as one of the greatest shows ever written at the Emmys. Especially seeing as how every single person in Hollywood loves it. Sheesh.
Bee Boy — Mon, 9/22/08 1:20pm
I knew I recognized him! Was he the guy with the dollhouse furniture? I've been meaning to catch up on The Wire ever since a TiVo crash interrupted season one for me. Now I'm extra-meaning to!
Brandon — Mon, 9/22/08 2:15pm
That was Freeman. Lance Reddick played Daniels, one of the best characters on the show (Freeman was too... hell, the character scale on that show starts at awesome and works its way up to groin-grabbingly transcendant). If you watched the first season, Daniels was in charge of the special unit.
And yeah, the fact that The Wire got only one Emmy nomination during its entire run is one more gigantic shame in an Emmy history filled with them.