Better With You 1×01 / 1×02 Pilot / Better with Firehouse
I watched the first two episodes but I don’t really get it. I think it has to do with the fact that I don’t see the irony in not being married and why that’s supposed to be a source for humour.
What also doesn’t work for me are these scenes where they show all three couples doing the same thing – just differently.

Community 2×02 Accounting for Lawyers
Jeff in his natural habitat. It was cool to see the lawyer from the pilot episode back and how he could twist anything to his liking.
It was also cool to see them all in formal wear and going on a Mission Impossible.

$#*! My Dad Says 1×02 Wi-Fight
Shatner as the grumpy old man totally works for me. I’m not sure about the older brother and his wife though. Maybe they need a bit more time to find their pace. They are lucky that they have Shatner and I am willing to give them that time.

Melissa & Joey 1×08 Dancing with the Stars of Toledo
It was an OK episode. I really loved the all-male Tango, it was incredibly funny to watch them dance and they really pulled it off. I also liked the drug-induced dream sequence. It’s of course a staple of these kinds of sitcoms but you also have to find two people that can actually pull it off and I think these two can.

Raising Hope 1×02 Dead Tooth
Even the show acknowledges that it’s weird. And as the cast is getting wider, more weird people come into it. But it also shows the genuine care between father and daughter.
What makes it more fun for me is the fact that I can’t stop seeing Garret Dillahunt as the Terminator from The Sarah Connor Chronicles and then to watch him here.
And Sabrina reminds me a lot of the young Ally Sheedy from WarGames.

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Categories: TV Season 2010/2011 Diary
Tags: $#*! My Dad Says · Better With You · Bones · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Community · Cougar Town · Gossip Girl · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · Life Unexpected · Melissa & Joey · Raising Hope · Smallville · Stargate SG-1 · Terminator · The Big Bang Theory · Two and a Half Men · WarGames
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No Ordinary Family @ Wikipedia
No Ordinary Family @ IMDb

The Powells are your run-of-the-mill slightly dysfunctional family. Jim works as a police artist who has not achieved what he had hoped for. Stephanie on the other hand is too successful and has barely any time for her family. And their kids have their own problems at school.
But when their plane crashes in South America something weird happens to all of them. Caching a baseball at 140mph? Running the mile in less than six seconds? Piece of cake… But where does one go from here?

I really enjoyed the pilot. It had the right mixture of fun and seriousness which could make for a very interesting dramedy show. And since I like the actors of both parents already (Michael Chiklis from The Commish and Julie Benz from Buffy, Dexter & Rambo) I think I will like this show very much.

Categories: Short Review, TV Season 2010/2011 Diary
Tags: Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Dexter · No Ordinary Family · Rambo · The Commish
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Life Unexpected 2×02 Parents Unemployed
I hope that the Paige story goes somewhere and isn’t just swept under the rug.
I have to admit I nearly didn’t recognize Emma “Anyanka” Caulfield but then it made *click*. Good to see her again, it has been a while.
Though I must say the whole firing Cate story doesn’t make much sense considering that they were supposed to get a five year contract just two episodes before (season one finale). Let’s see where this season goes.

Chuck 4×02 Chuck vs. the Suitcase
*indignant voice* “You slapped me!” When Lou “The Hulk” Ferrigno says that, it becomes even more funnier. “Is she naked?” – “Who? … Yes. Yes, she is.” This episode had everything I love about Chuck and was incredibly funny – especially the return of the Buy More crew (What an entrance!).

Castle 3×02 He’s Dead, She’s Dead
This was a hard case to follow for me. For some reason I couldn’t keep track of who’s who and how they are connected.
But I still enjoyed it and loved the “Alexander” revelation as well as Beckett’s and Castle’s banter about this whole truth seer issue.

Categories: TV Season 2010/2011 Diary
Tags: Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Castle · Chuck · Hulk · Life Unexpected
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Hawaii Five-0 @ Wikipedia
Hawaii Five-0 @ IMDb

Steve McGarrett is a Navy Seal who resigns his offto work as a cop on his home island Hawaii. But just not as any cop and not just for some reason. His father was killed by the man he has been hunting for years and the HPD can’t be trusted to solve this case. His team works under direct authority from the governor and gets way more leeway to solve their cases. He’s supported by a not so ordinary team.

The cast reads intriguing: Scott Caan (Ocean’s Eleven, The Fast and the Furious), Daniel Dae Kim (LOST), Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica), Masi Oka (Heroes) and of course James Marsters (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville).
The problem for me is that it is a straight-forward cop show like CSI or NCIS. There’s no special element in it. I’m sure it’s a good show that many people will enjoy but it’s just not my kind of show.
It doesn’t help at all that I’m partial towards the supposed baddie (Marsters).

Categories: Short Review, TV Season 2010/2011 Diary
Tags: Battlestar Galactica · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · CSI · Hawaii Five-0 · Heroes · LOST · NCIS · Ocean's Eleven · Smallville · The Fast and the Furious
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Deutsche Version | Those that came … those that went … those that did both … and those that did neither nor

10 Things I Hate About You

A sitcom that is based on the movie of the same name but soon develops it’s own spin on the events.
It’s not over yet (two more episodes) but I enjoyed it while it lasted. I would have liked a second season.

FlashForward

All people fall asleep for 137 seconds and see their future from six months from now. A task force investigates the cause of that.
I tried. I really did. I wanted to like the show because the premise sounded really intriguing. But it was bore-fest 101. You can’t fill an entire episode with a boring senate hearing. Not in the fourth episode of a new show! I even came back after the (really long) break but at some point I simply gave up.

Happy Town

Mystery murders in a small town.
I was intrigued by the pilot and decided to continue watching it but then it was cancelled and I decided to don’t even bother.

Mercy

Hospital show.
I only watched the pilot episode (because of Michelle Trachtenberg [Dawn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer]). Couldn’t care less.

Paradox

A scientist gets pictures from the future and the police tries to solve the case before the crime actually happens.
Again a show that had a concept that sounded interesting but it simply wasn’t. The characters and the cases were just not that good.

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Categories: Short Review, TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: 10 Things I Hate About You · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · FlashForward · Happy Town · Mercy · Paradox · Romantically Challenged
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Deutsche Version | CW 08-11 | CW 13

Gossip Girl 3×15 The Sixteen Year Old Virgin
Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal! Sometimes things are very predictable. OK, I did not see Chuck’s mom in league with Jack but since she is an adult, she wasn’t to be trusted in the first place…
But at least I’m into this show again and can enjoy all their plotting and scheming again.

Chuck 3×11 Chuck Versus the Final Exam
Chuck has lost something. If I had to put a finger on it, I’d say it lost its fun. Why does Chuck have to kill someone to become a real spy? He isn’t a Double-O agent (Was the bathroom scene a reference to the one in True Lies or Casino Royale?) and I can’t imagine that a kill test is part of the initiation ritual even in a TV show CIA. And if he fails they fire him? What about the Intersect in his head? Since when isn’t that a problem anymore? In the first season they wanted to throw him in a dark place in Nowheresville if they couldn’t protect him where he lived.
And what about Rome? Chuck living alone in Rome? Away from his friends, his family AND Sarah? What’s the point of being in Rome then?
Why does he need to be a “real spy” anyway? In a real-world scenario Chuck would be a great analyst; someone who stays in the Van and is the eyes and ears of Sarah and Casey in the field. He sees what they see and when he sees something important he flashes, informs them and they take out the bad guys.
I want the show be lighter again, more of the humour that made it so fun during the first two years. You can’t take it seriously anyway since there are enough plot holes in it to build a second Grand Canyon – I choose to ignore them as long as I enjoy watching the characters. But when they fail to shield me then the holes become even more visible.

Castle 2×17 Tick, Tick, Tick…
Whoa. What an end. Great episode. Even though I knew that the bad guy wasn’t dead the moment he moved away from the window I enjoyed this episode and Castle’s childlike excitement about all these new toys very much. Now I wonder how Beckett saved herself – I’d've jumped into the bathtub, it worked in Lethal Weapon 2.

Life Unexpected 1×10 Family Therapized
If at first you don’t succeed, … This was definitively an interesting “re-start” of the show. Now the big question is what the characters will do differently now. But it was a good idea to let Lux burst a bit, the “Why did you leave me?” question had to come up at some point.
I’ll have to admit that I had my doubts but I enjoy this show more and more (with Lux and Baze being far in the lead in regards to character liking).

LOST 6×09 Ab Aeterno
When I read the year I was a tiny bit disappointed: 1867. I always imagined that the Black Rock was from the 17th or even 16th century. But he’s barely 160 years old!
And does this mean that the island was once in the Atlantic? We know the island can be moved but it was never established how far. But if the Black Rock sailed from Tenerife and wanted to get to America it hardly ended up somewhere in the Pacific (where it would have to be to “allow” a plane crashing on it that flew from Australia to L.A.).
This episode gave me not so much answers but more confirmations of theories. And that’s what worries me now. What if there’s no surprise anymore? There are so many theories about the island out there someone was bound to have the right idea. What if I already read the solution without knowing it?
I hope there are still one or two surprises on the road now that we’ve reached the halftime of this final season.

(more…)

Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Castle · Chuck · Cougar Town · FlashForward · Gossip Girl · How I Met Your Mother · Human Target · James Bond · Justified · Lethal Weapon · Life Unexpected · LOST · Spartacus: Blood and Sand · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · The Vampire Diaries · True Lies · Two and a Half Men
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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.

(more…)

Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: 24 · Alias · Battlestar Galactica · Beverly Hills 90210 · Bones · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Burn Notice · Cagney & Lacey · Castle · Chuck · Cougar Town · Das Boot · Die Hard · Due South · Dune · Gossip Girl · Heroes · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · Human Target · Lethal Weapon · Leverage · Life Unexpected · Scooby Doo · Spartacus: Blood and Sand · Stargate SG-1 · Superman · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · The Good Wife · The Vampire Diaries · Two and a Half Men · White Collar · Wing Commander · Xena: Warrior Princess
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Spartacus: Blood and Sand @ Wikipedia

Spartacus: Blood and Sand @ IMDb

Trailer: This is Sparta … cus!

Spartacus (a name given to him by the Romans later), a Thracian, joins forces with a Roman Legatus to fight against an evil horde that constantly raid their villages, rob their crop and rape their women. But then the Romans don’t hold their end of the bargain and the Thracians desert to protect their villages on their own. The Legatus doesn’t take that too kindly and follows them. He can take Spartacus as a prisoner and sentences him to die in the arena. But that man is not that easy to kill.

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 visual appearance 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.

Categories: Short Review
Tags: 300 · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Gladiator · Spartacus: Blood and Sand · Xena: Warrior Princess
Comments: No comments

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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Categories: Short Review, Thought Storm
Tags: 24 · Alias · Angel · Babylon 5 · Battlestar Galactica · Being Human · Bones · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Burn Notice · Chuck · Dexter · Doctor Who · Farscape · Firefly · Friends · Heroes · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · James Bond · Knight Rider · LOST · MacGyver · Six Feet Under · Smallville · Star Trek DS9 · Superman · Supernatural · The A-Team · The Big Bang Theory · The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy · The Sopranos · The Wire · Thursday Next · True Blood · Twin Peaks · Two and a Half Men · Veronica Mars
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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. 
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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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: 24 · Bones · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Castle · FlashForward · Gossip Girl · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · Paradox · Stargate SG-1 · Stargate Universe · The Big Bang Theory · Two and a Half Men · V · White Collar
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