Tag: Bones

TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 04

TV Season 2009/10 Diary

Deutsche Version | CW 02-04 | CW 04-05

Chuck 3×05 Chuck vs First Class
Both stories were really great. It was really cool that put the Buy More (without Chuck) in the focus and Morgan and Casey are awesome together. But Chuck’s mission was also really cool. And I have to admit it: I really like Kristin Kreuk. I liked her on Smallville and I like her here. She’s probably one of very few persons that I wouldn’t mind as “love interest” replacement for Sarah. And Shaw seems to be a good character, too.

Castle 2×14 The Third Man
Another nice scavenger hunt I enjoyed very much. The “double date” dinner was really cool and the case itself was fascinating. It was so funny how Castle tried to hide the newspaper(s) from Beckett and how the “Gossip Girl” had to explain to him why she wrote it that way.

House M.D. 6×11 Remorse
The schizophrenic was a nice proxy to get a glimpse into House himself. This episode was very well written and I really liked the side-story about his former fellow student and (however short) Cuddy. I wish they’d make a full-blown House/Cuddy episode anytime soon.

Life Unexpected 1×02 Home Inspected
Things were a bit rushed in this second episode because of the custody inspection (which they had to pass in order to get the show running) and this caused this back-and-forth in just one episode. But I liked the part about her orphan friends and I still think this is going to be an interesting show.

White Collar 1×09 Bad Judgment
“What does the fridge magnet represent?” – “A fridge magnet.” I really liked this episode, the way they played the OPR agent and made him lose his judge-in-the-pocket. But Mozzie was once again the funniest part of the episode.

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 02-04

TV Season 2009/10 Diary

Deutsche Version | CW 01-02 | CW 04

Human Target 1×01 Pilot
The pilot episode certainly looked interesting. The action was well balanced above realistic and below unrealistic. It looks like as if it’s going to be Die Hard or Lethal Weapon in a series format and I certainly will watch more episodes of it.
“You wore a vest? Where’s my vest?” – “I’m your vest.”

24 8×01 – 8×04 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Dammit. I should have known better. I decided to watch the season en bloc when it is over. But I just had to peak a little and was already drawn back in…
I love Jack’s new “Are we done here? Can I go home now?” attitude. Of course they aren’t done and Jack can’t go home.
When I read that that Freddie Prince jr. (Wing Commander, Scooby Doo) – He married my Buffy, dammit!!! – would take the part of the leading CTU Field Officer I was a bit worried. But he has gotten older and looks like he can pull it off.
Of course there are again the typical 24 plot points like the incompetent CTU boss, the CTU member who has private problems and I am already wondering who the mole is – but that’s OK, it’s 24 after all.
What I also like is that – aside from the 24 alumni who have returned this season – these episodes feel like a huge School Reunion party: The aforementioned Freddie Prince jr., Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica) – looks gorgeous btw -, Paul Wesley (Stefan in The Vampire Diaries), Cliff Simon (Ba’al in Stargate SG-1), David Anders (Takezo Kensei / Adam Monroe in Heroes, Julian Sark in Alias), Jürgen Prochnow (Dune, Das Boot) and according to the CTU files Callum Keith Rennie (Ray in Due South, Leoben in Battlestar Galactica) will also appear anytime soon. 🙂

Life Unexpected 1×01 Pilot
I was made aware of this series at least twice. The second time was a few days ago when blogs reviewed the pilot episode. But I’ve seen bits and pieces of this episode before – most likely in a trailer a few months back. And even though I had forgotten the show in the meantime I now remember that I decided back then that I’d give it a try.
I really liked the pilot. The characters are believable and down-to-earth. Even though the show runs on The CW this isn’t Beverly Hills 90210 or Gossip Girl, this is different. As with every show it now depends on what kind of storylines they are going to tell and how this triangle+attachments is going to work out.

Spartacus: Blood and Sand 1×01 / 1×02 The Red Serpent / Sacramentum Gladiatorum
Lots of nudity (male and female). Even more blood. Better you put a bucket below your telly in case it spills out of the screen. The optic leans more towards 300 than Gladiator, especially when there’s blood flowing. The problem is the story. These first two episodes show how Spartacus became a Gladiator but it didn’t give the viewer an idea what the entire show is going to be about. And that’s why I am not yet convinced. To quote Buffy‘s Spike: “I love a good slaughter as much as the next bloke” but I also need a real story in between.
Time will tell … at least you now get the chance you never got with Xena: To see Lucy Lawless in the nude. 😉

Chuck 3×04 Chuck vs Operation Awesome
The only thing I’ve ever seen Brandon Routh in was Superman Returns but here he didn’t remind me of his character there. I like him as addition to the team because he could stir things up a little.
I don’t know if it’s just my imagination because they announced it but the show actually feels a bit less funny and a bit more serious. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still an Action Comedy and there’s plenty of fun in it. But the general tone during the spy action seems to have darkened a little since last year. I’m not complaining – I like it.

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TV Shows – A Decade in Retrospect

Short Review, Thought Storm

Deutsche Version

Since everybody seems to be starting to count at zero instead of one the first decade of this century and millennium is now over. So it’s time to recap these past ten years and take a look at the TV Shows it has given us.

Let me give my résumé at the beginning: Of the four decades I know TV Shows from (70s – 00s) this was without question the best decade for us TV junkies. When you read my review you might say in the end “Hey what about <insert your favourite here>?” (e.g. The Sopranos, Dexter, The Wire, Six Feet Under, …) but that’s exactly my point. This decade has given us so many outstanding shows that it was impossible to watch them all. Also, everybody has a different set of favourite genres but I’d say that every genre got their fair share of excellent series in the last years.

But let’s face it: There’s rarely any series (if there’s one at all) that could keep up the quality and its appeal for its entire run. Some had a bad year in between, some fell short at the end. But even in these “bad years” they had more quality episodes in it than entire shows from previous decades. So all the shows I am going to name have of course aspects that can be criticized and I invite you to do so.

For me the most outstanding characteristic of this past decade’s shows is that they are more often than not more about the “journey” of the character(s) than the actual events. It’s not the character who shines a light upon the unfolding events but it’s the events that shine a light upon the character and his development. I have to say that shows (hereby excluding comedy shows that work with stereo- and archetypes) that don’t have a real character development don’t interest me at all. But if the character development is interesting I might even watch shows from genres that usually don’t interest me at all.

If the character development is interesting enough I might even set the fact aside that my second favourite characteristic is missing: A real story-arc. The first TV Show in my TV universe that had a real story-arc, was Babylon 5. Later Star Trek: DS9 did the same albeit not in that quality and complexity. But these shows were two of the rare exception in the 90s (another famous exception would be Twin Peaks, but I never watched it). It seemed that viewers weren’t interested in either developing characters or story-arcs.

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 46-50

TV Season 2009/10 Diary

Deutsche Version | CW 47-49 | CW 50-01

The Big Bang Theory 3×10 The Athens Recurrence
I do that very rarely but I watched the scene where Penny recites the physics stuff three times in a row. It’s so great to see her keep a straight face and the others get dumbfounded. Sheldon can be so proud of her.  Clap
I also really liked the reference to the pilot when Penny explained why Sheldon sits where he sits.

Two and a Half Men 7×10 That’s Why They Call It Ball Room
This was a cool episode, it had many scenes that made me laugh, for example the couch incident or Alan’s wedding video or the dance lessons. I also liked that Jake had a few more scenes but I still feel they should make at least one entire episode about him again sometime soon.

Bones 5×10 The Goop on the Girl
“You look like sisters.” 😀 I really liked Zooey Deschanel’s appearance on the show, it was really funny. It also kinda answers the question why Brennan behaves the way she does even when she had a normal childhood until the age of 16. It must be a gene running in the family. 😉
What I didn’t like was Booth dissing that radio man for having a negative opinion of the U.S.. But I think that’s a cultural difference. In Germany we’ve come to love criticizing our country and everything the parliament (we elected) does.

Castle 2×11 The Fifth Bullet
This one had a really nice assortment of guest actors: Marc Blucas (Buffy‘s Riley), Anne Dudek (House‘s Cutthroat Bitch) and Carlo Rota (24‘s Morris O’Brian). I especially like Carlo because he often plays (he was recently on Stargate Universe, too) these somewhat grumpy character’s that aren’t really likeable (because they aren’t really supposed to be) and he does a great job with them because you actually don’t like the characters but you don’t transfer that to the actor.
But I also liked Marc Blucas in his amnesia role, he was a nice guy.

FlashForward 1×10 A561984
So Dominic’s character doesn’t actually belong to the evil bad guys. But he was still the most interesting character in this episode. I honestly don’t know if I will even remember this show when it starts to air again in 4(!) months.

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 47-49

TV Season 2009/10 Diary

Deutsche Version | CW 45-48 | CW 46-50

Paradox 1×01 Episode #1.1
A scientist has a satellite in orbit to observe the activities of the sun (like flares and stuff). But when he downloads the new images from it there are eight images that come from Earth. And they weren’t taken by the satellite. The timestamp of the pictures seems to indicate that they were taken in the future. And they seem to show an attack or an accident. The institute involves the police and now a race against time begins.

When I read the description of this new British series, it sounded like a variant of Early Edition or Tru Calling so I gave it a try. But unfortunately the pilot was a bit disappointing. The scientist behaved like he was behind all it. I assume he did it to force the police to investigate but it didn’t really work out for me. And the police didn’t even take the most obvious precaution. They simply could have blocked that seemingly unimportant road but they didn’t.

Paradox 1×02 Episode #1.2
Now they’ve got their first possible paradox. If they hadn’t got the pictures the guy most likely hadn’t died. But if he hadn’t died the boy most likely wouldn’t have died either. So their investigation caused the boy to die but their knowledge helped save him. Stars
Still the scientist is too underused; I believe for the show to really take off, he has to be more involved, otherwise it’s just another ordinary cop show.

Cougar Town 1×08 Two Gunslingers
Alan Ruck was cool in this episode but Travis was awesome; it was so cool to see how he first messed with Grayson’s head and then conned him. 😀

Cougar Town 1×09 Here Comes My Girl
Huh, that was awkward and uncomfortable at the same time, thus funny to watch…

Bones 5×09 The Gamer in the Grease
That was one huge trailer / viral marketing advertisement for a certain Cameron movie that is about to be released. But I still liked it how Hodgins and Fisher danced around Camille in order to save their spot in the line.

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 45-48

TV Season 2009/10 Diary

Deutsche Version | CW 40-47 | CW 47-49

How I Met Your Mother 5×09 Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap
Lily’s “you’re dead to me” stare reminded me of good ol’ Willow days. *sentimental* And both Lily’s father’s game ideas (especially the burst gall bladder!) as well as Barney’s slap fear were great.

Castle 2×10 One Man’s Treasure
Whoah, what a game of three-sided Xanatos Gambit. Although one must not think too hard about it or else Fridge Logic will kick in. (just a note: I was just looking for that “Fridge Logic” link and got lost in the Tropes for over half an hour…)

The Big Bang Theory 3×09 The Vengeance Formulation
Loved Howard in this episode but the others were great, too. Finally an episode again where the whole cast could chip in. Though I wondered why Katee had this somewhat odd make-up.

House M.D. 6×08 Ignorance Is Bliss
I get the feeling that House (the character) has lost his edge. His schemes are not as entertaining anymore and he even backs down.

Two and a Half Men 7×09 Captain Terry’s Spray-On Hair
While this was still a great episode I noticed that Jake’s missing more and more from the show. He’s often only seen in one scene and then he’s gone again. Soon they have to rename it to “Two Men and Chelsea”.

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TV Season 2009/2010 Diary, CW 40-47

TV Season 2009/10 Diary

Deutsche Version | CW 37-46 | CW 45-48

Bones 5×07 The Dwarf in the Dirt
Gordon Gordon is back! 🙂 And Stephen Fry has lost a lot of weight. I hope he isn’t ill or something. Booth was certainly the highlight of this episode, both in regards to his mental problems and him being helped by Sweets and Gordon Gordon but also the fight in the midget wrestling. Laugh

Supernatural 5×09 The Real Ghostbusters
The second comedy episode in a row but it did work. Though I was wondering why the convention was so heavily unbalanced towards a male audience, but then again the in-universe Supernatural is just a book series and it’s certainly no kitsch like Twilight that is more likely to appeal to women.
But I am glad that they have a lead on the colt and can finally go back into the big battle.

The Vampire Diaries 1×04 Family Ties
I have to admit, the last minute of that episode made the entire show more interesting. Now I am curious what the townspeople know and how deep this thing goes.

The Vampire Diaries 1×05 You’re Undead to Me
It’s fascinating how vampirism and witchcraft seem to be connected. Whenever there are Vampires, witches are never far behind. Why? Just because they both are supernatural fantasy creatures? I wouldn’t mind a show with just Vampires (and Humans) in it.

The Vampire Diaries 1×06 Lost Girls
I am seriously starting to wonder for what kind of audience they made the pilot of this show. The pilot made it look like “Transylvania 90210” I and nearly didn’t watch another episode. Luckily I was bored. This show definitively has some merrit beyond the “lonely Vampire wants human girlfriend” concept.

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