On the Bubble

It’s around this time of year that I start to look ahead and see what is likely to get cancelled and what is likely to get renewed.

Figures from Tv By The Numbers suggest the following shows I watch will most likely see cancellation:

• A Gifted Man
• Ringer

Now, in the case of A Gifted Man, which is listed as Certain Cancellation, I couldn’t be more disheartened.Not only is it well shot and reasonably well scripted (random shootings aside) it’s a fun and clever show. Rachelle Lefevre is one of the most beautiful actresses on tv right now and Rhys Coiro, not only provides some great comic relief but he also reminds me of a greatly missed work colleague.

With Ringer I’m less surprised. While Ringer has remained in my staple of shows that I watch, it’s not for a good reason. It has stayed there because it’s so much fun to pull it apart. Ringer is a show filled with ridiculous plotlines and crazy coincidences that would never happen. Of course with cancellation looming I really hope that we at least get some payoff as to what Siobhan is planning.

Shows that are listed as On the Bubble include:

• Nikita
• Supernatural
• The Secret Circle
• Alcatraz
• Raising Hope
• Terra Nova
• Community

Nikita is very much deserving of a second season. They’ve done enough to change up the Nikita vs. Division storyline and they’ve had some really engaging episodes this season. If anything they need to include more Aaron Stanford, for comic value and probably kill off Melinda Clarke before she becomes too important to kill off, like Xander Berkeley

Supernatural didn’t deserve either of it’s last two seasons and should have ended after season 5 as originally planned. The lackluster Leviathans storyline has done little to redeem the show, while killing off all recurring cast members to force the focus of the show back on to the Winchester brothers is helping to restore some of the original charm, there is simply too much history in this show for it to continue. It’s heart-breaking to watch something that was this great squirm about in the throes of death, just take a colt to it and put it out of it’s misery…

Secret Circle I gave up on after nine episodes, as it continued down it’s teen angst, twilight saga style storylines. Alcatraz failed to engross me during it’s pilot and I gave up soon after. Terra Nova also failed to keep me interested but my feelings on this show have been aired in an earlier post.

Raising Hope has had some off episodes this season but on the whole it’s been great. The main problem they have is they have fallen into that second season trap that all sitcoms do, Jimmy has gotten with Sabrina. And if the show is allowed to continue then they have to break up, just like Ross and Rachel, just like JD and Elliot. That said, I’d still like to see this clever sitcom continue it’s run into a third season.

Community… six seasons and a movie…. that’s all I’m saying… make it so!

Likely Renewals include Castle and Bones and I hope that both see renewal.

Certain Renewals include Once Upon a Time and Grimm, both of which failed to impress me with their pilots or their premises. However the renewal of Hawaii Five O comes as no surprise as that show is still one of the best things on TV!

How I Met Your Mother’s renewal is coming as a little surprising given that the show is mostly a parody of itself, which often fails to amuse, that said the most recent episode was a return to some of its former glory. The renewal of Big Bang Theory came as a surprise to no one (although the 3 season renewal shows a massive amount of faith in the show) the show continues to be cleverly written and genuinely heart warming.

Spielberg is 0 for 3

There was a time when the name Steven Spielberg was a byword for quality, probably sometime prior to June 28th 2001 (Sidebar: My film critic friend would like to refute this argument by presenting Minority Report, Catch Me If You Can and the Terminal… I believe my point stands unmolested by his argument), but now it seems the esteemed director will put his name to just about anything, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull anyone?

Well this year three shows have debuted bearing the much valued name Spielberg, Falling Skies, Terra Nova and The River…

All three shows have a great premise. Falling Skies deals with humanity in the aftermath of an alien invasion, true, it’s not a unique idea but it’s one that TV often fails to explore, or at least well. Terra Nova combines a failing humanity with time travel and a fresh start in a world populated with dinosaurs. While the River follows in the footsteps of the great and oft lamented (by me) Harper’s Island and tries to spin out a horror story aboard a nature documentary ship sailing down the amazon.

Kudos on the premises. They’re great, they all sound like they’d be fantastic shows… but they aren't and here’s why.

Falling Skies fails in so many regards. It is clichéd, stocked with cardboard characters that fail to be interesting. It suffers massively from it’s illogical mythology. The alien ships hunt by heat signatures, we know this as they have been drawn miles out of their way by simple flares. But they can’t spot the heat signatures of a group of 300 people travelling together?

Meanwhile Terra Nova simply throws away it’s great mythology by setting itself up as a soap opera that just happens to feature dinosaurs. A group of humans has travelled to a parallel earth (thus explaining away any ecological inconsistencies) and has set up a new civilisation, a fresh start for Humanity.However, it is still as corrupt as the one left behind and it bears a striking resemblance to the culture of today despite being set nearly 150 years in our future.

The interesting part of the Terra Nova plotline is the formation of a new civilisation in a hostile environment. However the writers just skipped right past that and had the civilisation already there. Upon arrival our heroes are able to go to the market and pick up anything they want, they don’t need to struggle for survival, in fact life is so dull for them that they must immediately seek out trouble. This is of course a group of people who haven’t seen the sun in decades, who have barely eaten and have basically lived in a police state all their lives. Their sudden expulsion into a world of colour and magic is presented as so mundane you’d think all they’d done was pop round to the neighbours for a cup of tea.

So much potential, so much promise, so little payoff. This show feels like the short lived BBC series Outcasts, which suffered from the same slow, uninteresting plotlines. Both shows could have really pushed some boundaries and told some interesting stories, but both were very disappointing in the end. It’s hard to screw up time travel and dinosaurs but it’s not impossible.

Finally The River. I mentioned Harper’s Island earlier, which despite the nonsensical conclusion, succeeded in spinning an hour and half slasher movie into a tense and engaging 13 episode series with interesting characters and a plot that, while one-note in many senses, was well carried throughout the show (up until the last episode… obviously). The River attempts to do the same thing, spinning a horror movie out for 8 episodes as a family searches for their father who went missing six months earlier.

The show starts off well and manages to be engaging at first, even if there are huge issues with the development of the plot. For example, Lena turns up, out of the blue and finds the family who have just lost the signal from Emmet’s beacon and she tells them she has found six possible locations for the ship. Five of them are empty. Now, wait, on the whole of the amazon, a ship that has been missing for 6 months can’t only be in one of 5 locations! If it’s been missing for 6 months it could be on one of 5 continents, probably hoping not to be found.

However, these leaps of plot are easily forgiven by what follows. Unsurprisingly the family finds the ship, in the sixth location (surprise, surprise) and to their astonishment there is something still on the ship, sealed in the panic room, the door to which has been welded shut.

Obviously logic dictates that they have to open it, it is unclear exactly what the monster is that they release by doing this is, all we know for sure is that it kills at least one of the crew and will continue to hunt them throughout the show. However, here’s the real problem. If you come across a monster and you seal it in the panic room with a blow torch then you probably have the time to… I dunno, write a note!! Even the hospital staff in The Walking Dead found time to scrawl “do not open” on the doors. Welding takes a long time, comparatively to writing at any rate, so there really is no point in doing it if you aren’t going to explain why so other people don’t come along after you and UNDO IT!!

Of course the plot continues in an equally ridiculous fashion as our heroes fail to turn back, despite clear reasons to do so, including a supposed visitation by the spirit of the man they are hoping to find alive… if he is alive HOW CAN HIS SPIRIT VISIT YOU! Am I asking for a non-ridiculous “supernatural thriller”, no, but it needs enough basis in reality and logic to hold you in it’s world. Harper’s Island worked because the characters weren’t stupid, by the time it was apparent there was a killer on the island it was already too late for the characters to leave, but even then they didn’t stop trying.

You can’t feel sorry for a group of characters who are killed because they are too stupid to know any better!

/RANT

The Best of the Year

So, it’s been a while and I’m not really back as such, too many other projects on the go but I wanted to put my feelings out there on what I think have been this years top shows.

Best Returning Show – Big Bang Theory

Considering that the BBT is now in it’s fourth year this was a strong returning season, possibly not as good as season one but certainly stronger than other returning shows such as Chuck, Supernatural and How I Met Your Mother.

Best New Comedy – Raising Hope

Contenders for this category included Running Wilde, Episodes and Mr. Sunshine and as Raising Hope was the only one of these shows to see renewal it was an easy decision to make for me. While both Episodes and Mr. Sunshine had their moments, Raising Hope was consistently funny across it’s run.

Best New Drama – Hawaii 5-0

This reboot of an old series is just phenomenal. Everything from the writing to the locations to the action is just superb. Add into that the quality of the cast and high pace of the episodes and you’re really on to a winner here. I hope for many more seasons to come…

Best Summer Show – Rescue Special Ops

For three years this show has delighted me, everything from it’s music to its locations, to it’s fantastic characters is brilliant. What Network 9 was thinking of when they cancelled this show I have no idea. Certainly their excuse that they want to end on a high just seems ridiculous. Other hot contenders for this category included the excellent return of Covert Affairs and the short lived but wonderfully witty Chaos.

Best Animated Series – Avengers the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

Avengers is the perfect tie in with the current series of the Marvel movies and the series was certainly better than the lacklustre Clone Wars. That said, I’m also really enjoying the excellent new Thundercats series!

Best Genre Show – Being Human US

Having never seen the UK version of the show I was sceptical to say the least of a SyFy channel version of the show, but boy was I wrong. This show was a delight from start to finish and I can’t wait for a second season!

Biggest Disappointment – Falling Skies

Where do you begin with this category? There were so many, Falling Skies, The Walking Dead, Running Wilde The Event, Undercovers and The Chase. Falling Skies however turned out to be pretty drab, considering all the weight that was behind it, so it scoops the biggest disappointment award.

Best Show of the Year – Hawaii 5-0

Really guys, it wins hands down, if you haven’t given this show a go then stop what you’re doing and go try it out. Adrenaline-pumping, high octane story telling, set in gorgeous locations with a sexy, talented cast. Seriously, best show of the year!

Weekend at Bobby’s vs. Live Free or Twi-Hard vs. You Can’t Handle the Truth

… or the “Why is Sam such a Dick Trilogy”

It’s no secret that since Supernatural has been back I’ve not been the biggest fan. But then Weekend at Bobby’s happened and I remembered why I love the show.

Weekend at Bobby’s manages to make that “Monster of the Week” format, that the new series is running with, fun and exciting. It takes its lead from a classic episode of the X-files (I can’t remember which) where Mulder is sidelined and we focus entirely on Scully with on Mulder appearing on the phone. Well, instead it is the Winchester boys on the sidelines with Bobby taking centre stage, giving us a much overlooked glimpse into the life of Bobby Singer.

The trigger for the episode however comes from Dean, who rings Bobby up to complain about how different Sam feels since he came back from the pit.

True, Sam has been acting like a dick all season, but that’s not exactly new. Sam has been a dick for some time now, season 4 was dragged down notably by Sam being a dick! Anyway, I digress.

Live Free or Twi-Hard, while an amusing title and a nice little play on the current popularity of films like Twilight, fails on multiple levels. Firstly it follows the Star Trekkien style of storytelling. By that I mean, something happens to the one of the main characters, i.e. becoming a Vampire, that will be entirely reversed by the end of the episode, despite there being evidence to the contrary that is even possible.

Instead of providing an episode about the characters striving to overcome adversity, this method of storytelling simply drags on for 40 minutes until the inevitable conclusion is reached without the episode ever having had any meaningful impact.

The second reason the episode fails is that it breaks canon, Dean’s vampirism being reversible is both convenient and poor storytelling. Part of what makes Supernatural interesting and unique is the lore that Kripke creates for the monsters, changing that lore breaks an audiences engagement with the story.

What I would have found more palatable would be for the cure to fail, after all it wouldn’t be the first time. Back in season 2, one of the most memorable and shocking failures on the Winchester Brother's’ part happened in Heart. After promising to cure Madison of her lycanthropy Sam is forced to kill her when the cure fails.

Obviously, long term, turning Dean into a vamp would be a terrible idea, but a catastrophic failure of the cure would have made the fact that Sam let Dean get turned even more impactful.

Which brings me back to Sam is a dick. The whole point of Live Free or Twi-Hard was to bring to light this betrayal moment when Sam allows his brother to be turned into a monster. The rest of the episode is by the by and it really could have been any kind of betrayal really it didn’t need to be vampires.

So the final episode of this trilogy focuses on a Pagan god of Truth who is causing people in a sleepy little town to commit suicide. I had a brief hope at the start of the episode that Gabriel was back, but sadly, no.

Again, this weeks monster of the week is one of convenience, providing a simple way to finally get rid of Lisa (big damn shame) and out Sam as being a dick. (Have I mentioned that Sam is a dick) While I didn’t find this episode as objectionable as Live Free or Twi-Hard, it still felt staged, that everything which proceeded was only there to give some lead-in to the rather unshocking confession and plea for help from Sam and the rather more shocking and violent response from Dean.

To be honest I’m glad that Dean finally got to unleash his anger at his brother and not in a namby-pamby pre-watershed kind of way, but in a full on, brutally uncut kinda way. But overall the Sam possibly-not-being-human-storyline has been a bit of a downer. With only two characters in the show, having one of them continually antagonise the other really does a lot to alienate the audience. So while it might make sense from a story point of view (and I say might) it really doesn’t from an audience perspective, especially an audience that felt the show had come to a natural conclusion at the end of season 5!

Well, that’s My Two Cents anyway, until next time…

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

So, with Caprica finally back on the air, everything is up and running, so I thought I’d do a quick summary of what’s good and what’s not…

The Good

How I Met Your Mother, Raising Hope, Running Wilde and Big Bang Theory have all been great so far, performing at least as well as I had hoped, in some cases better. 

Nikita was a welcome surprise and has so far been an exciting little spy drama with a twist.

Hawaii Five-O is proving itself to be a fun little tongue in cheek crime drama, like Bones and Castle but with a high octane element that makes it a very enjoyable experience all round.

Chuck, well, Chuck is Chuck and what’s not to like about that? It’s good to finally see some love for this show from the network that very nearly killed it a year ago.

The Bad

Where to start? I had high hopes for Chase. A sexy, high tension drama produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the studio behind such movies as Pirates of the Caribbean. But the show failed on all levels to be engaging. The characters were hard edge almost to the point of dislikeable, even the incompetent one was pitiful rather than endearing. With a season chock full of good stuff, this show just didn’t make the cut.

Undercovers, the new Spy-Fi from J.J.Abrams, a name synonymous with sexy-confusion has managed to produce a pilot that fails to be anything but a joke. Undercovers picks up the story of two retired spies and throws them back into the field. They proceed then to not miss a single beat as they shoot or shag their way out of trouble. Yes it’s sexy and yes it has action, but it doesn’t take itself seriously.Abrams has so far disappointed me with Alias and Lost and Fringe, even Star Trek, but never have I been so disappointed so quickly as I was with this show. If you want a less serious spy drama then Chuck has the perfect mix of comedy and suspense, where as Undercovers tries so hard to cool and quippy that it feels like you’re watching something Sam Raimi might have churned out.

The Ugly

Supernatural… Wait what? You’re favourite show of all time??? Well yes, I said 5 was enough, Eric Kripke said 5 was enough, even the Winchester Boys said 5 was enough, but nobody listened and now look what’s happened. Supernatural is never bad per se (well Bugs was a bad episode, but aside from that) but this has been a clunky start to the season. Coming back from what should have been the end of the show should have been an explosion of goodness that explained why we absolutely needed a 6th season (and “because it makes money” is not a good enough reason.) but instead we’re back to the grungy, emo-ish style storytelling that bogged down the show’s 4th season. Sure Sam and Dean are back hunting together now, so things will pick up, but so far I have failed to be impressed.

Merlin, after a promising start the show has relapsed into it’s lazy scripting/bad British acting habits. It’s such a shame, the first season, despite its poor finale, was genuinely a surprisingly good show. Why BBC shows go downhill in later seasons has always baffled me, but still there are some good moments and some fun moments so I still have hope that once we get the “silly” episodes out of the way the show might return to form for a good season finale.

The Event has the potential to be a good show, however it is as ugly as all hell. The story is chopped, nay, finely diced into bite size chunks, these chunks are then all thrown in a bag and whichever comes out first makes up that week’s episode. In the wake left by the passing of Lost and Flash Forward, I’ve really felt the need for a mystery show, but somehow this is more annoying than it is mysterious. The entire pilot tells you next to nothing, forcing you to watch on in the hopes of figuring out why you just wasted an hour watching the last episode.

Admittedly, the second episode is better, but seriously, what was wrong with linear storytelling? Haven’t we had enough messing about with time and narrative for one generation (thanks Lost!) ???

Caprica and SGU are also back, Sy-Fy’s main dramas are both running one after the other on Tuesday nights and so far they are managing to be okay. Neither is blazing a trail of goodness, nor stinking the place up. Based solely on trailers I have high hopes for the second half of Caprica’s (final?) season where as I have no further expectations for SGU. I would be seriously surprised if I’m still watching either of these shows come this time next year. But they both have the potential to improve

So, that it, My Two Cents on this seasons TV. If I didn’t mention a show, its probably because I’m not watching it, in some cases like Bones and Castle I’m still working through previous seasons, in others I’m just not interested enough. So, until next time…

BRING BACK DOLLHOUSE!

Caprica: Unvanquished

It’s been a long, long time but Caprica is finally back for the second half of its first season. After only 8 episodes the show took a 5 month hiatus, surely that can’t be a good thing. Despite the fact that almost nothing happened in the first 7 episodes of the show, the eighth episode left us on a major cliffhanger and I couldn’t wait to see how it resolved.

The problem with Caprica, when compared to the massively successful Battlestar is that it’s not an action show, it’s a show about religion and about politics and unfortunately while that makes the show deep and interesting, it also makes it thinky and occasionally dull. This week’s episode was a little bit of everything. I enjoyed seeing the resolution to the explosive cliffhanger and yet I wasn’t blown away by it.

Initially we are led to believe that Daniel Graystone has lost everything, his company, his football team, his wife and as we later learn, the Cylon that contained his daughters consciousness. While that is an interesting plotline, it isn’t enough to sustain the show, we still need action in our sci-fi.

Meanwhile Clarice has returned to Geminon to meet with the Church elders. She returns to them proposing a new faith, one based on science rather than faith, one that can offer an afterlife for certain. She is talking about the software that Zoe created, about using it to create a virtual avatar of anyone who dies, so that they can be reborn in a virtual paradise. I never much cared for Clarice and her continual religious waffle is rather irritating, I was rather hoping she would be killed off in the midseason finale, but her death seems unlikely now.  

Back on Caprica Lacey has been fully integrated into the STO, working for Barnabas. I don’t know where that storyline is headed, but with James Marsters slated to have his own series very soon, I thinking we’ll know before the season is out.

In New Cap City, we finally discover what happened to Zoe after the car blew up at the end of the last episode, her robotic body may have been fried, but somehow she made the jump to the virtual world. Now she is on a mission to find Tamara. To what ends we don’t know.

In the closing moments of the episode we discover that Amanda Graystone is also alive and well, and for some reason, living with Clarice. This of course puts a whole new spin on Clarice’s afterliffe idea. It would seem that the Graystones and the STO may well be working together.

Overall I thought the episode was a bit of a mixed bag, I liked some of it, I didn’t like other bits. The CGI was all very nice, I loved the look and feel of Geminon, even if the action that took place there felt a bit stagey. I like the idea that the Cylons are now in full production, trained to be soldiers without a conscience, although the removal of Zoe brings up the question of how they achieve a higher level of conscience and evolve into the monotheistic Cylons we see in Battlestar. However, I’m glad that it’s back as I really want to see where it’s going to go, but I have my doubts about the possibility of a second season, especially after the bizarre way the schedule has been treated.

Stargate Universe: Intervention

SGU is back and do you know what? It’s not as bad as it has been… Sure, that’s not exactly a raving compliment but there has been little positive about the show on which to rave. Bad scripts, poor acting and poor plotlines that focused on petty squabbles rather than action.

In fact, the only reason I tuned in to the season premiere this time around was to see how last season’s cliffhangers would be resolved. The writers literally left every single cast member is some kind of jeopardy, a trick designed to make people do what I did, tune in next time.

But, unexpectedly it wasn’t too bad. I’m pretty sure you need prior knowledge of the Stargate mythology now to really follow what’s going on though, which is a shame because I don't think I can sit through 10 seasons of that, not even when Browder takes the lead role! But there was plenty of action and it was a fun little episode.

What annoys me most about this series are the missed opportunities. For example, in this episode only handful of the crew were left on Destiny, while Col. Young and most of the civilians were banished to a storm- blasted planet, alongside a bunch of the mercenaries who had come to kill them in the first place. Little more is said about this planet and 5 minutes later everyone is back aboard Destiny.

Why not instead have Destiny jump into FTL, stranding Young. Now he needs to work together with the mercenaries to stay alive and make it back to Destiny with his people intact. Meanwhile Rush and Eli have regained control of Destiny and are searching for Young, but with so few people to man the ship, things turn sour, especially when the nasty aliens turn up… Or something like that. Why confine the show to Destiny, why not explore the Universe, after all it’s the name of the show.

Anyway, will I keep watching? Maybe, if the next couple of episodes are as good as this one or better, but Caprica’s back this week and that’s so much better.  

First Impressions: Hawaii Five-O

So, I finally got around to watching the pilot episode of the reimagining of the classic tv series Hawaii Five-O, I know it’s been around for almost two weeks, but I’ve been really busy and to be honest, it was near the bottom of my list of new shows to watch, the only one lower than it being Undercovers.

Anyway, to cut a long blog post short, I enjoyed it. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting going in, probably a police procedural drama I guess. I’ve never seen the original, but my assumption was that it would be like CSI: Miami, but probably with better scripts. Instead the episode opens with a fire fight, a metric ton of explosions and a helicopter gunship. Throw in James Marsters as a recurring bad guy and I was already sold.

When the opening action is over and done with Anton Hesse (James Marsters’ brother) lies dead, alongside Jack McGarrett, the father of the show’s main character Steve. Fast forward a day or so and Steve is back in Hawaii looking to bury his father when the Governor approaches him with an offer. She wants him to lead a special division of police officers to seek out the corrupt and nefarious citizens of Hawaii.

Obviously Steve turns her down, that is, until he realises there is more to his father’s murder than simple revenge. Steve quickly takes over the task force, appointing “Hawaii Hating” Danny Williams as his second in command, mainly so he can wind him up I’m guessing. Not long after  that he ropes in his childhood friend and ex-cop Chin (Daniel Dae Kim) who was kicked off the force after supposedly taking a bribe and his kid cousin, Kono, fresh out of the academy and played by the stunning Grace Park.

With him team assembled they set off after Marsters (Victor Hesse), after a quick but well executed rumble in the shipyard, James’ body is in the drink and presumed dead… Really, is he…? I doubt it. Although with Caprica and his rumoured lead role in an upcoming superhero show, he could well be.

Anyway, whatever the case, it was a fun and exciting first episode and it holds a lot of promise. I found the characters believable enough that they were engaging to watch, but also fun and stereotypical enough that the show was not too heavy. I was certainly surprised by how much I enjoyed the pilot,  a lot more than I did the Chase, which I was much more excited about.

Whether I will stick with the show, I don’t know, it’s certainly a good show and I love the cast, but I think it really depends on what kinds of episodes they choose to do and whether or not there will be an engaging season subplot. But for now it’s definitely on my ever increasing watch list. And for those who have been dying to know, yes it still has the classic theme tune!

Supernatural: Exile on Main Street

It doesn’t seem like five minutes since I was sitting here writing about the awesome finale to season 5 of Supernatural. What I said back then was that if the show did come back, the opening episode of the new season would need to be awesome. But, it wasn’t.

The episode opened really well, I love the montage of Dean putting his skills as a hunter to use in the real world. But what followed was a rather mediocre episode, which referenced another reasonably mediocre episode from either last season or the season before, I can’t recall.

Dean has been poisoned by a Djinn and is hallucinating. Sam shows up and saves him. Sam and Samuel (their grandfather) are both back from the dead and have been for about a year. During which time they’ve been hunting with a select group of 3rd cousins.

Everyone barring Dean knows this. I liked that, I liked that Dean was the last to know, but at the same time I didn’t and I can’t explain why. I liked many things about the episode. I liked the idea that since the apocalypse was averted the supernatural creatures have changed or new ones have evolved. But I didn’t like that Samuel just came out and said it, show us don't just tell us. 

I liked the idea that the Djinn were the children of the Djinn Sam and Dean had killed and that they were out for revenge. But overall I didn’t like the idea that the Djinn, of all things, were what caused Sam to come for Dean after vowing to let him live his “apple pie life” In fact, I would most definitely have preferred Azazel to be back, after all, if Sam and Samuel can come back, why not Old Yellow Eyes. Plus if we’re resurrecting characters Jeffery Dean Morgan would have been cooler than Mitch Pileggi. And where the hell is Castiel? He was such an awesome character, bring back Cas!

So, in summary, Supernatural is back, yey! However, we need a better explanation for why Sam is back than “I don’t know” because that’s just crap. Remember Dean’s reappearance back in season 4? Castiel pulling him from hell, the angel’s hand print seared into his flesh. Come on guys, we know you can do better.

The episode closed out with Dean choosing to stay with Lisa and Ben, which was good because as far as I could see Sam offered no good reasons for him not to. I really hated that “have it your way” moment where Sam almost chastises Dean for not leaving. But we know that sooner or later Dean will leave and head out hunting again, but will it work? Right now, I’m not sure!

Geek Comedy at it’s Best

I’ve been insanely busy this week, so managing to get around to writing anything has been a huge struggle, but how could I not throw some love around for the return of the Geeks!

In the last few years Geek culture has become more widely accepted. Superhero movies grace all the big screens, there are sci-fi and genre shows spilling out of every TV screen, but nothing truly speaks to the geeks inside of all us like Chuck and the Big Bang Theory.

Chuck returned to our screens on Monday with a new episode, setting up Chuck’s new quest, to find his long lost mother, who is of course, none other than Linda Hamilton. Linda however will not be the only terminator alumni to grace the show this season, but more on that story later. The episode primarily revolved around Chuck and Morgan teaming up as possibly the worst spy team since the Lone Gunmen, but, like the inept trio, just as funny. Last season Chuck went from merely ok, to one of the best shows on the airwaves. The final six “bonus” episodes were an adrenalin fuelled rollercoaster ride and if the premiere of season four is anything to go by Chuck is back and just as kickass as ever.

I did find it interesting that Chris Fedak had cut back on the use of the Intersect in this opening episode. In fact the only time Chuck went Superspy was during an off-screen moment. Hopefully Fedak and Schwarz aren’t regretting turning Chuck into a superhero because if they try and tone down his powers or remove them completely they could find themselves in the same position as Heroes did with Peter and Hiro.

But, overall an excellent episode, nothing overly memorable, but a fun filled hour of action. It’s nice to see that Bonita Friedericy has finally made the main credits after only four years with the show, as the head of the new improved CIA HQ a.k.a the Buy More!

Also back this week, by popular demand, I’m sure, is the geek comedy Big Bang Theory. In possibly one of the funniest episodes to date Harold  accidentally gets his member caught in a robotic hand he “borrowed” from NASA. While Leonard and Raj figure out how to deal with that situation, Penny takes Sheldon on his first date with Amy.

I’m so glad that both shows are back, but there’s still so much more to talk about… So, I’ll leave you with my condensed Two Cents and get back to watching all the other new stuff… Supernatural here I come!

First Impressions: Raising Hope

When I first turned this show on to see a hillbilly family attempting to be funny I nearly turned it off again, it was only the short running time I had to endure that stopped me.However, I quickly realised that someone over at FOX knew what they were doing.

Over the last couple of years, indie-style movies like Juno, have been making big bucks. Raising Hope is is in the same vein. Jimmy Chance is a 25 year old, emo-ish looking kid, not overly intelligent and a general under achiever. Through a series of bad choices and even worse luck he is lumbered with a baby girl, whose mother has been executed for murder.

Already the show is off to an ambitious start. Quickly Jimmy learns that he isn’t cut out to be a father, but he is also not willing to give up on his daughter. He soon meets the cute but ultimately quirky shop assistant who thinks he’s “weird” and from that point on we know this is going to be an oddball of a romantic comedy.

Overall, the show’s set up turned me off, I have always found shows that try to dredge up humour by laughing at those less fortunate (i.e. the poor hillbilly family that can’t afford to raise a baby girl) to be dull. But Raising Hope is not focused on what this family can’t do, but instead on what it can. The show is about perseverance in the face of adversity and with that slant I found myself warming to it. The show is definitely piggybacking on the success of movies like Juno, trading the canned laughter of guaranteed success for something a little more edgy, a little more “of the now”. Will that pay off? It wouldn’t the first time that FOX has taken a step forward only to find that the audience stood still. Either way, I enjoyed the pilot of Raising Hope and I applaud FOX for their great choices in half hour comedies, in offering us two (Running Wilde) new shows that are very different to what the other networks have to offer.

First Impressions: Running Wilde

My first impressions of Running Wilde? It’s funny, it very funny, but it is also silly. I mean, any show that features Peter Serafinowicz riding on a tiny horse is pushing the boundaries of ridiculous, right?

But somehow, magically, Michael Hurwitz pulls it off. I have no idea how, this show is crazy, it’s connection to reality is threadbare but, somehow, it’s funny, but it’s clever funny, not slapstick funny, despite all appearances to the contrary.

The jokes that made Arrested Development so funny are back too, along with two members of the cast. For example, Emmy (the female lead and environmental activist) has named her daughter Puddle, and like Bob Loblaw, it’s a name that gets funnier each time it comes up.

Ultimately, I have no idea where the show intends to go, the initial storyline  makes for a great opening episode, but the implied follow up, where Emmy tries to shape Steve (Will Arnett) into the ideal man kinda feels a bit too mainstream considering the bizarre way the show opens. But I trust Michael and I trust Will and I think that this show has the potential to go far.

I also think that Running Wilde is more immediately accessible to a new audience. Unlike Arrested Development where the jokes were sometimes in the things that weren’t said, in the subtleties of the characters, in knowing their quirks, in Running Wilde the jokes play to Will Arnett’s strengths. They are huge and visual, still clever, there’s still that intellectual payoff for knowing what was about to happen, but I get the feeling that while the show  is nowhere near as down to earth as it’s predecessor, it might just be more readily accepted.

Either way, it good to have Will back on our screens, Keri Russell is a beautiful fresh breath of air and Peter Serafinowicz really has the potential to be a comic genius! Overall I thought the show was very very funny, but it is walking a fine line between acceptably silly and overtly ridiculous, but the longer it can tread that line, the funnier it will be!

Rescue Special Ops: Crazy Love

Well, this season has really been like an adrenaline fuelled rocket. The highs and lows of the characters lives have not been quite as intense as season 1, but Chase’s spiral into depression after Bingo’s death was handled well. Overall I prefer the first season, but this season has been gripping, edge of your seat drama from down under.

That said, I found the season final a little laughable. The show opens with a recap reminding us that Ian and Michelle have been threatened by a low life scumbag by the name of Eddie Van Heussen. Shortly after that Michelle is carjacked, but her son James is still in the back seat. Libby Tanner, who plays Michelle gives a sterling performance throughout this episode and I was seriously worried the writers were about to kill her off.

The police continue to operate under the assumption that Eddie has kidnapped James, in order to prove something to Ian and Michelle, however as the plot unfolds we discover that it is instead Renae who has done the dirty deed. Renae, although currently dating Vince, is secretly in love with Ian and this is where the plot fell apart for me…

Fair enough, she wants Ian back. But so far in the 5 or so episodes Renae has appeared in she has never shown any signs of being crazy. So, why then, does she concoct a plan which involves paying a drug addict to steal Michelle’s baby? And why on earth does she believe that this will make Ian see how good a mother she can be? Even worse, why does she kidnap Michelle and tie her up in the boot? More to the point, how? When the said incident occurred she was parked outside Rescue Special Ops HQ,  surely somebody would have seen it?!

The bizarre plot of this episode turned what was a very tense and exciting story into a farce and while the final rescue moment, where Dean heroicly pulls Michelle from the submerge boot, was exciting, it was also ridiculous. Michelle should never have been in the boot in the first place, had she died under those circumstances I think I would have found the whole thing very difficult to accept.

Overall this was an excellent season, but a poor finish.The problem seemed to stem from the writers trying to throw us a red herring, in Van Heussen, so that we wouldn’t guess the real culprit. The problem with that though was that the Eddie Van Heussen story made more overall sense, whereas the “Renae suddenly becoming crazy” story didn’t.

All that said, I had a great time with this show this season and I’m overjoyed to hear that it will be returning to our screens with a full 22 episode season next year!

Covert Affairs: When the Levee Breaks

Covert Affairs, for me at least, was a surprisingly good show. I expected nothing from it, yet I found it to be both endearing and exciting, which is exactly what the season finale should have been…

Unfortunately, I felt rather underwhelmed by the last episode. The episode still had all the same ingredients, Piper Perabo’s beauty, Christopher Gorman’s charm, all the action sequences of a major blockbuster and suspense by the bucket load. But somehow it all went to waste. For some reason, rather than having the season finale be about Annie Walker, it was focused almost entirely on her mysterious ex-lover Ben Mercer, who duped her into failing in love with him before abandoning her in a tropical paradise.

Is that really the hero we deserved for a season finale? No! The plot wasn’t even particularly good, Ben had come to fetch Annie to help him save a professor Ben had promised to protect. I still don’t really understand why and to be honest it just seemed to be a reason to drag Annie back into Ben’s world. However, the story really has little to do with anything else we’ve seen this season, it didn’t really tie anything up, except to confirm that  Ben was alive, which we knew from the season premiere anyway.

Overall, I felt that this final episode was a poor show for what has been a great series. I’ve really enjoyed Piper’s performance this season, Annie’s honesty and general good nature have been a refreshing example to the spy-drama community. Christopher Gorman, too, has finally found a role into which he fits perfectly and I’ve really enjoyed his funny quips and unexplainable good luck with the ladies.

So, I really hope that Covert Affairs will return soon, but I also hope the Ben Mercer storyline is at its end.

The Clone Wars: Clone Cadets & ARC Troopers

I got a little fed up with Clone Wars last season, the show became very much focused on Anakin and Obi-Wan and the storylines felt rather pointless. There were some great episodes and some excellent animation, but overall the major story arcs felt flat.

But now, they’re back! The first two episodes of this season stretch back to episode 5 in season one, “Rookies” an episode that introduced Echo, Fives and Heavy to us and an episode that really proved that The Clone Wars was going to tell dozens of different and interesting stories from across the Star Wars universe.

Clone Cadets is the story of how Domino Squad manages to go from Zero to Hero by working together as a team. It takes us through how the clones come by their callsigns and what they were like before we met them in episode 5. Ultimately the episodes ending is clear from the beginning but it’s still a nice tale and it sets up ARC Troopers perfectly.

In ARC Troopers Kamino is under attack from the Separatists. Ani and Obi turn up to help out, but it is the Clones who are the most defiant,  defending the only homeworld they know by any means necessary. The episode sees some great sequences including a fight between Grievous and Obi-Wan that is visually spectacular. The episode ends with Fives and Echo being commissioned as ARC Troopers.

Both of these clone-centric episodes give me renewed hope for an exciting and varied new season, which will take us on a journey across the known universe.

Merlin: The Tears of Uther Pendragon – Part 2

I have to be honest, my hopes for this season of Merlin were not high and yet, two episodes running the show has managed to make me smile. This week’s episode possibly blew the entire budget for the whole season though as Camelot is besieged.

Honestly I hoped a couple of things would have turned out differently. Firstly, I would have liked to see Camelot fall, forcing Merlin and Arthur out into the wilderness to live as rebels attempting to regain the lost city. I’d also like to see Uther killed off to enable Arthur to take on the role as leader.

However, after an epic battle which included some Harryhausen style skeletons, all was resolved. Almost. Unfortunately Morgana’s charm managed to persuade the King that she was not only innocent but was, in fact, the possible saviour of the realm. Why unfortunately? Well because that means this season will be heavily focused on Merlin trying to prove she is a traitor and Uther and Arthur refusing to believe him, which could get old, really really fast.

Overall the episode was quite enjoyable, I really liked the build up to the siege, especially the moments with Arthur and Merlin, where Arthur doubts his own ability to lead. The CG animation was ok, although Skeletons are always hard to pull off convincingly. I think my reference to Harryhausen may be a little harsh because, considering they were done for TV, they were pretty good!

Hopefully this season will continue in the Epic storytelling vein and not revert back to the silly “special guest star” driven drivel that dogged the last season.

Merlin: The Tears of Uther Pendragon

So, the last series of Merlin was, well, not as good as the first. So much so that I almost didn’t even start watching this season, but I’m pretty glad I did. Yes, the plot was a bit weak and the acting a little shaky here and there but overall it was a fun start to a new season.

The one reason I have stuck with the show through the bad times (yes I’m thinking of Beauty and Beast) was because of the interplay between Merlin and Arthur. Colin Morgan and Bradley James really carry this show, the big names might be Richard Wilson and Antony Head, but it is these two that give the show pace and heart and humour.

This season picks up where season 3 left off, although a year has passed. Morgana is still missing and Arthur and Merlin are on a quest to find her, which they do reasonably quickly. She is so grateful to be returned home that the audience can’t help but smell a rat. This episode was a great way to showcase the dazzling beauty of Katie McGrath, who was severely underused in the previous season. Although her acting wasn’t flawless she is great fun to watch.

So, Morgana has returned to destroy Camelot, starting with Uther, while her sister marches on the castle with an army. We definitely get to see a darker side to Morgana in this episode. After having been discovered as a traitor she attempts to murder a guard, stabbing him and then throwing him from the wall. When that fails to kill him she returns to finish the job with a vile of poison (that she found conveniently marked Poison with a skull and crossbones in Gaius’ stores).

Suspecting the lady of treachery Merlin follows her as she leaves the castle to report to her sister. But Merlin is not as cautious as he thinks and is soon bound with chains and left out to be eaten by giant scorpions. When will villains learn to simply start slitting throats, leaving the hero unattended to be eaten NEVER works! Anyway, Merlin screams a spell of summoning skywards and calls down the ancient Dragon to save him, but not, however, before he is stung by the scorpions.

And so the episode concludes with the Dragon flying away, Merlin clutched in his talons. And once again, I find myself strangely drawn to this overly British show. The budget may not be as big as it’s American rivals, the acting may not be as good either, but there is something just a little magical about this show and that is My Spellbound Two Cents. 

Warehouse 13: Buried

This week Warehouse 13 goes all Indiana Jones and let’s face it, this is a show about collecting magical artefacts, it was bound to happen sooner or later. In a build up to the season finale Mika. Pete and Helena (H.G.Wells) head off in search of Warehouse 2. It seems that the Warehouses are in fact living entities, each one has a Caretaker, such as the mysterious Mrs Fredericks. However, Warehouse 2 was lost for eons and when it was rediscovered it awoke with no Caretaker, so it latched on to Mrs. Fredericks. Unfortunately for her, the connection will kill her.

So, the three agents set off to Egypt to deactivate the Warehouse and save Mrs. Fredericks. To help them along the way Valda (Mark Sheppard) joins up with them. Upon entering the Warehouse the group must solve three puzzles, Body, Mind and Soul. While these sequences are ok, they feel a bit stagey. In order to pass one of these challenges the Warehouse demands a life, so Valda sacrifices himself. I seriously doubt that Valda actually died, partly because demanding a life is a dumbass safety measure, but mainly because Mr. Sheppard is well on his way to becoming the most pervasive actor on the genre television circuit!

Back at the Warehouse Mrs. Fredericks is dying, if she dies, the Warehouse dies with her, again, a rather silly way of doing things, but fair enough. In order to protect the Warehouse, she prepares to pass her duties onto Claudia. This was a nice twist, I’ve always enjoyed Allison’s character, I was so glad she got made into a permanent cast member, so making her into the Warehouse’s new caretaker would be an awesome new direction for her.

However, it wasn’t to be, Mika and Pete deactivate Warehouse 2 in the nick of time and all is well. That is until Claudia discovers that it was H.G.Wells that arranged for the Warehouse to be reactivated. Her sudden but inevitable betrayal was not really a shock, but still it left us on a cliffhanger. Personally I would have preferred for Mika and Pete to succeed but too late to save Mrs. F and that the Warehouse had already been transferred to Claudia. Like I said, I’m not convinced by Valda’s death and I would assume he’ll be back as early as the very next episode. As for the H.G betrayal, I’m neither surprised nor thrilled. As far as Supervillains go Warehouse 13 hasn’t had a good one yet. Considering this show came from Jane Espenson, who wrote 23 episodes of Buffy, I would have expected better.

But, that doesn't mean it was a bad episode or even a bad cliffhanger, it just doesn’t push the buttons I know this show can push. Well, that’s My Two Cents anyway…

Eureka: I’ll Be Seeing You

Of all the shows I watch, this one has the most ups and downs. Some episodes are brilliant while others are less than satisfactory. When the first episode of season four set out to explore time travel (something which had already happened before in Eureka back in season 1) I felt we  were in for a bumpy ride. Despite how much I enjoy James Callis in Battlestar and even FlashForward, I was not fan of Dr. Charles Grant, I’d much rather have had Matt Frewer return to the show as the crazy veterinarian Taggart.  

Anyway this week’s episode marks the halfway point of the season, only nine episodes with no announcement as yet to when the show will return or how many episode the second half will contain. We, however, know that we can look forward to a Christmas special.

So, the midseason finale sets out to wrap up the time travel storyline and bid a fond farewell to Dr. Grant. However, like Heroes and every other show that includes time travel, it just doesn’t feel like it worked.

What I do like is the fact that the final episode didn’t “fix” the timeline, returning all the characters to their previous roles and thus making the last nine episodes irrelevant. But other than that the whole episode felt a bit messy.

Initially I liked the fact that Jack gets dragged back to 1947 unintentionally and the possible death of Allison Blake.  After that though things went downhill. Dr. Grant had intended to return to 1947 to stop the bridge device being built. But he returns after everyone else has already arrived. That could only happen if the bridge device exists already in 2010. Additionally, destroying it now would trap Alison, Carter and the others in 1947. Which of course makes no sense either.

Dr. Grant then forgets about attempting to destroy the bridge device and instead works on a way to return home and save Allison (who had been killed by accident just before they travelled back in time.) They try to warn past Allison about the accident but fail, so instead Jack records a message to his future self and tells him how to save Allison and stop Dr. Grant. Which he does and the everything is as it should be. WHICH MAKES NO SENSE!

Hopefully though, this means that the whole time travel storyline is dead and we don’t have to put up with it again. That’s not to say there haven’t been some good episodes this season, but they have all been rather over shadowed by the less than satisfactory “Time Travel” story arc.

Still I look forward to the Christmas special and the return of the show, which has been confirmed for a fifth season.

That was Eureka and this has been My Two Cents!

First Impressions: Nikita

So, we’re back. It’s been a nice long summer, with plenty to watch for a change, but now it’s time to get back into the season proper. If the 2010-2011 season should be considered special, it will be because of the intense number of brand new scripted shows hitting the airways. The first of which comes out of Warner Brothers via the CW… Nikita!

I’ve heard a fair amount about this show, even seen a couple of trailers, but I failed to get excited, even though I like Xander Berkley. However, through the dull tedium of life I found myself with nothing better to do so I sat down and I tuned into the new hotness. The first thing that struck me was the shows similarity to James Cameron’s Dark Angel. Young people, taken in by a shady arm of the government, trained as assassins, before going rogue and escaping into anonymity, vowing to return for your fellow inmates. 

Add to that bit of familiarity a small dash of Alias, as we quickly learn that Nikita had been in love with a civilian and that her involvement with “Division” had led to his death. Throw in some reverse-24-style traitor twists and you have the pilot episode of Nikita.

But, let’s face it, we’re not looking for originality in our TV anymore, if we were we’d be sorely disappointed (ala Lost?), no, what I’m looking for is fun and Nikita delivers on that. Like Piper Perabo’s Covert Affairs. I went in not expecting much and I feel like I had a good time. I particularly enjoyed Lyndsy Fonseca role as Alex, the troubled new recruit, who turns out to be Nikita’s “man on the inside”. Leading man Shane West was ok, although he reminded me a lot of Joshua Jackson, while Maggie Q who plays Nikita herself, comes across as both sexy and dangerous in equal measures.

I’ll certainly be willing to give the show a few more episodes to really impress me, but so far it’s entertaining enough for me to not turn it off, but it’s also not on the same par as my favourite CW show, Supernatural! Obviously, with only one episode down so far it’s hard to know what the show intends, however if they drag out Nikita’s attempts to destroy Division across multiple series I can see it getting old fast. Personally, I’d like to see her bring down Division HQ by the end of season 1, saving some of the recruits, while alienating others, thus changing the focus of season two.

So, that’s My Two Cents, overall a good show, some nice performances and as long as the show doesn’t stagnate it could well have a bright future.