Deutsche Version | CW 04 | CW 05-06

Chuck 3×06 Chuck vs Nacho Sampler
Interesting choice of conspiracy partners. I don’t think both will found out but just one of them and he/she will help Chuck cover it up for the other one. On the one hand if it would be his sister, Awesome could finally relax before he breaks. If it would be Morgan it would certainly be fun because he would be a sure candidate for interfering in the wrong moments.
It was also an interesting use of flashbacks to show how much Chuck and Chuck has changed over the past few years. On some level I’m sad that the show has lost its more lighter tone on the other hand I do like it.

Heroes 4×18 Chapter Seventeen ‘The Wall’
So I was right, it will go out in a fight of Specials vs Specials vs. Normals. I liked this episode because this “compressed time” gave Sylar and Peter the chance to deal with their issues. But it’ll only work if the writers don’t come up with yet another Face Heel Turn for Sylar – it’s already hardly believable how often Sylar switched sides…
Now I am keen to see the fight between Samuel’s ma/en and Sylar/Peter. I don’t see him having the slightest chance against them, especially if Peter copies Sylars abilities.

How I Met Your Mother 5×14 Perfect Week
It was OK, but since I knew neither the moderator nor the Yankees baseballer I assume some of the    punchlines got lost on me.

House M.D. 6×12 Moving the Chains
House is doing nice things and still remains a scheming mastermind. I liked both side-stories about Foreman’s brother and the condo pranks. The case was also mildly interesting but pretty routine…

Life Unexpected 1×03 Rent Uncollected
Huh. They pretend to have problems, but they actually don’t. This time Baze had a big row with his parents but in the end his daughter who has known him for merely a week fixes things and the episode ends with a roof-top party.
I had hoped for a more realistic portrayal but this episode was too much 7th Heaven for my taste. If this continues, I’ll drop it again.

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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: 7th Heaven · Angel · Bones · Burn Notice · Chuck · Cougar Town · Heroes · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · Human Target · Leverage · Life Unexpected · LOST · Smallville · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · The Good Wife · The Vampire Diaries · Two and a Half Men · White Collar
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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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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Bones · Burn Notice · Castle · Chuck · Heroes · House M.D. · Leverage · Life Unexpected · Smallville · Superman · Supernatural · The Vampire Diaries · White Collar · X-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.

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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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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
Comments: No comments

Categories: Short Review
Tags: Avatar · Bones · Chuck · Cougar Town · Gossip Girl · House M.D. · Stargate Universe · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · The Good Wife · The Guild · True Blood · White Collar
Comments: No comments

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.

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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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Back to the Future · Bones · Castle · FlashForward · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · LOST · Smallville · Stargate Universe · Superman · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · The Good Wife · The Vampire Diaries · Twilight · Two and a Half Men · V · White Collar
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Deutsche Version | CW 45 | CW 40-47

The Good Wife 1×06 Conjugal
I love the unusual (and yet serious) way how they solve their cases and I like how they often find a way to involve Alicia’s husband in the case even when she has to sacrifice his reputation in the end.

Two and a Half Men 7×07 Untainted by Filth
Charlie’s going to marry! The world comes to an end even before 2012! Loved the flashback to the “threesome” and how he managed to disguise his uncomfortableness by telling his mother’s story. One story worse than the other.

House M.D. 6×06 Known Unknowns
Loved Cuddy, Wilson and House at that conference, especially the the (19)80s party and House being totally serious when he held Wilson’s speech and keeping his friend out of trouble. As usual, I didn’t care too much about the actual case.

The Big Bang Theory 3×07 The Guitarist Amplification
Penny’s and Leonard’s first real argument. How cute. But once again Sheldon stole the spotlight from all of them. I am quite sure when the writers invented the show they didn’t imagine Sheldon becoming basically the comical center of the show but that’s how it turned out. Unfortunately I slowly get the feeling that the other four are slowly becoming supporting cast to give him an anchor for his lines.

Supernatural 5×08 Changing Channels
One week’s worth of television in one episode. So cool, especially the CSI parody. But one thing I haven’t understood: Was the Trickster we’ve known before never a Trickster and always Gabriel? Or did Gabriel choose the face of the Trickster for some reason afterwards?

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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Bones · Castle · Cougar Town · Dollhouse · Friends · Gossip Girl · Heroes · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · The Good Wife · The Shawshank Redemption · The Vampire Diaries · Two and a Half Men · V
Comments: No comments

Deutsche Version | CW 42-43 | CW 45

White Collar 1×01 Pilot
Someone mentioned that Chuck’s Bryce Larkin would play a con man in the style of the epilogue of Catch Me If You Can. And I thought that I’d give it a try. So far I have to say it’s OK. As of yet I am undecided whether it’s a show for long-term watching, I will have to watch a few more episodes to decide that.

Castle 2×05 When the Bough Breaks
Richard Castle as possible author of James Bond books. That’d be the day I loved it how Kate’s and Rick’s relationship was developing forward without them actually doing anything in this regard.

Castle 2×06 Vampire Weekend
Despite all the references to the Whedonverse and Vampires, Lycans and co. in general, it was only an average episode. As I said before, Crime isn’t really my genre and this show has the disadvantage that there isn’t any additional drama outside the current case. I had hoped there would come something out of Castle’s discovery regarding Beckett’s mom’s murder, but they put that back in the box and forgot about it.

Two and a Half Men 7×05 For the Sake of the Child
This was a great episode, the two brothers worked very well as this old couple. I haven’t laughed that much for a while on TaaHM. “Things you would change about me? – Your address!”

Dollhouse 2×04 Belonging
A really great episode, written by Jed Whedon and directed by Jonathan Frakes. Again Echo is not in the spotlight, but Sierra and – especially – Topher. And it was one of the episodes where they seriously question the ethics and morality of the Dollhouse itself. They should do this way more often because therein lies the conflict potential of the show.

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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Castle · Chuck · Cougar Town · Dollhouse · FlashForward · Gossip Girl · Heroes · How I Met Your Mother · James Bond · Smallville · Stargate Universe · Supernatural · Two and a Half Men · White Collar
Comments: No comments

Deutsche Version | CW 41 | CW 42-43

Bones 5×04 The Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
I really enjoyed this episode with all its entanglements in suburbia and especially the bantering between Bones/anthropology and Sweets/psychology regarding the life there.

Supernatural 5×05 Fallen Idols
Kripke warned the viewers not to judge to quickly about the appearance of Paris Hilton. And he was right, she was the perfect specimen to make the point the wood god wanted to make. And: “You got whaled on by Paris Hilton!”

Smallville 9×03 Rabid
I didn’t care much for the zombie story (despite Supernatural horror still isn’t my genre) but I really like the way they are pushing the triangle C-L-B forward without making it feel forced. I also hope that this wasn’t the last appearance of Green Arrow. I hope he finds his path again soon and will play a larger role this season.

The Big Bang Theory 3×04 The Pirate Solution
I’m surprised, Leonard’s and Penny’s relationship is actually lasting (at least for now ). And Raj and Sheldon work together in a “Eye of the Tiger” montage – awesome!

Two and a Half Men 7×04 Laxative Tester, Horse Inseminator
It was funny (it would fail if it weren’t) but again not extraordinary. Maybe I shouldn’t watch two sitcoms in a row.

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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Ally McBeal · Babylon 5 · Bones · Boston Legal · Castle · Cougar Town · Dollhouse · Emergency Room · Firefly · FlashForward · Gossip Girl · Heroes · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · L.A. Law · Matlock · Pirates of the Caribbean · Smallville · Stargate Universe · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · The Good Wife · Twilight Zone · Two and a Half Men
Comments: 1 Comment

Deutsche Version | CW 41

Since I am watching a number of TV shows via community means, I decided to give a short opinion of said episodes.

The season began a few weeks ago, so here comes a bulk review:

Bones 5×01 Harbingers in a Fountain
While it was a nice start into the season it bothered me that they showed an actual fortune-teller without exposing her as a fraud. Especially Bones should have never accepted this fact.

Bones 5×02 The Bond in the Boot
Except for the fact that they played with the James Bond theme it was average.

Bones 5×03 The Plain in the Prodigy
I am totally agnostic and don’t really care for any religion. But I didn’t like how they portrayed the Amish’s reaction to the victim’s piano playing: “Oh that sounds so beautiful, why would God forbid playing instruments?”. The Amish are obviously very strong in their faith, I can’t imagine them questioning their believe just because they hear one musical instrument.

Castle 2×01 Deep in Death
One of these “We have to resolve our differences that came up by the end of last season by the end of the first episode of this season” episodes. He apologized and all was well. But it was cool how Castle played Poker with the Russian mob and how Beckett got him out of there.

Castle 2×02 The Double Down
I’ve seen this kind of plot recently (without Castle’s betting pool of course ) on Bones IIRC. But on Bones it had been 3 victims/murderers, not just two. Normally I wouldn’t watch such a show at all but Fillion/Castle makes it totally worthwhile.

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Categories: TV Season 2009/10 Diary
Tags: Bones · Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Castle · Cougar Town · Desperate Housewives · Dollhouse · FlashForward · Gossip Girl · House M.D. · How I Met Your Mother · Smallville · Stargate Universe · Supernatural · The Big Bang Theory · Two and a Half Men
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