11 Jan – €24.01 (£17.99) @ Amazon.co.uk

Mad Men: Season 1 – 3

18 Jan – €32.46 (£24.79) @ Amazon.co.uk

Dexter: Season 3

20 Jan – €17.28 (£12.89) @ Amazon.co.uk

Dune

20 Jan – €12.99 @ Media Markt

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

20 Jan – €9.99 @ Media Markt

Sherlock: Season 1

20 Jan – €13.53 (£9.85) @ Amazon.co.uk

The A-Team

21 Jan – €10.97 @ Amazon.de

JAG: Season 9

21 Jan – €22.67 ($23.49) @ Amazon.com

Rabbit Without Ears 2

21 Jan – €7.99 @ Amazon.de

My 800th movie:

The Men Who Stare at Goats

21 Jan €10.97 @ Amazon.de

With this I have exactly 3,000 profiles in DVD Profiler:

The Good Wife: Season 1

28 Jan – €18.62 (£14.80) @ Amazon.co.uk

How I Met Your Mother: Season 5

28 Jan – €18.69 (£14.86) @ Amazon.co.uk

Robin Hood

28 Jan – €12.82 (£9.91) @ Amazon.co.uk

The Big Bang Theory

A sitcom (with laugh track) about four scientists and their hot neighbour.
I’m still enjoying this show very much. I don’t understand why they broke Penny and Leonard up (especially because it felt like one of the most normal relationships on TV) but at least they didn’t put any bad blood between them.

Bones

Forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance “Bones” Brennan and FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth investigate murders where only a skeleton is left of the victim.
Quite a few episodes of this season where just “OK” but it’s still watch-worthy and I assume that next season will have a totally new dynamic due to the “time leap”.

Burn Notice

Michael Westen is a former spy who has been “expelled”. He now works as a “problem solver” for people whom the police can’t help.
It’s a good show but I hope that one day they’ll drop the whole “I want to go back to the spy game” aspect of it and just run with the main plot.

Castle

Richard Castle is a best-selling thriller author who solves crimes with Detective Kate Beckett who has become his inspiration for his novel heroine “Nikki Heat”.
They are only in their second year and both characters already know they have feelings for each other. Progress! While the WTWT is certainly an aspect of the show that can’t be ignored, I tune in because of the crimes they have to solve and the ways they do it. For me, it’s the unofficial sequel to Murder She Wrote.

Chuck

A guy who works in an electronics superstore get all the secrets of the government uploaded into his brain. From now on he works as a spy and helps to put the members of the most dangerous organisations behind bars.
I enjoyed the first third of the third season but then disliked where the show was going with Shaw and Sarah. Not because I’m a Charah shipper (I am that, too ) but because it didn’t feel real that Sarah would tell Shaw (who just came into her life) things, she didn’t share with Chuck. But now the show is great again, and I can’t wait to see the finale and the fourth season.

Gossip Girl

A show about a lot of spoiled rich kids in New York’s Upper East Side and some “normals” who get caught up in the whole mess.
It took them a while to make the transition from high school to university, but they managed to do it. Bonus points for not having all the characters attend the same university (University of California in Sunnydale or Central Kansas A&M University in or near Smallville ).

House M.D.

Specialist for Diagnostic Medicine Dr. House leads a team of doctors that take care of patients that have rare or inexplicable symptoms and try to help them.
It’s still very formulaic but every year is still different. This year House actually tried to be a better person. That doesn’t mean he stops playing games but now they are means to a different end. And next year will be different, too. I’m watching it because House can still surprise you.

How I Met Your Mother

Ted tells his kids the story of how he met her mother. For that he’s going into greater detail about his early life.
The show as a whole is declining. The search for the mother has been put on hold for a while now and it isn’t as much fun as in the beginning. There are still good episodes in it but as a whole it’s getting more generic.

Leverage

If Burn Notice is the unofficial sequel of MacGyver and Knight Rider, this is the unofficial sequel to The A-Team. A group of con (wo)men who live somewhat outside the law try to help people.
I loved these kinds of shows in the 80s and should I stumble across an episode of The A-Team on TV, I’ll still watch it. And I watch this show for the same reasons. And Jeri Ryan (7 of 9 in Star Trek VOY) was a nice addition to the show this year.

Smallville

The myth behind this show is relatively unknown. It’s about an illegal immigrant who hides on a farm in Kansas. That is, when he’s not out in Metropolis and commits crimes of manhandling, B&E and malicious mischief while running around in a T-Shirt with a stylized “S” on it.
I really didn’t like seasons seven and eight. But this year was really good again and I’m looking forward to its tenth and last season.

True Blood

Vampires are real. And they live amongst us. And they want the same rights we have.
The second season was even more explicit than the first one was. I did not really care about the plot about the Pagan Goddess but that was just one aspect and I will tune in for the third season.

Two and a Half Men

A sitcom (with laugh track) about a man in his forties who lives in a beach house with his brother and his nephew.
It’s the same kind of humour this show had from the beginning but after seven years there are only so many jokes you can make about the same subject. I still enjoy it, but it’s not a priority anymore.

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.

This drastically changed in this decade and one show had an early start to this:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

I believe Buffy is one of the most studied TV Shows there is, possibly only surpassed by the Star Trek universe and comparing the age of both franchises one sees how truly amazing that is. Just take a look at Slayage Online to get a glimpse.
I had of course heard of Buffy but ignorant as I was I did not watch a single episode during its original run. It was only in the year 2007, three years after the show had ended, that I discovered it for me and it swept me of my feet. This show does not deal in black & white, every character is flawed and yet tries to contribute in the ultimate fight against evil.
For me there’s not one season I’d qualify as “bad” even though some of them are very different than the others.

Angel (1999-2004)

On the dawn of the new millennium Angel relocated from Sunnydale to Los Angeles and opened a second front against the apocalypse. The show was different from Buffy but the characters were still wonderfully drawn and the story was very good. The show had its down during the fourth season which I didn’t like that much but got better again only to get cancelled. But it went out with a BOOM. “Let them fight the good fight. Someone has to fight the war.”

And then the new millennium began.

24 (2001-)

“All Events Occur in Real-Time.” This show introduces a whole lot of concepts in a TV Show. Since everything happens “live” they depend heavily on split-screens to show multiple events in different places. It’s also one of the first shows that uses technology to a sometimes ludicrous extend. But its compact and thrilling story-telling totally makes up for it.
There have been years where the story absolutely jumps the shark, especially the fourth and fifth season. But then the writers manage to refresh it again end they’ve delivered a real highlight with the seventh season and I truly hope they can keep it up in the soon-to-begin eighth year.

Alias (2001-2006)

The show surely declined during its five-year run but overall it’s a fascinating piece of television, with its elaborate Rambaldi-arc and its shifting allies and enemies. It especially wins it fascination from all these grey characters where it isn’t certain on which side they’re on (for now) and what their hidden agenda is. It also uses a remarkable amount of plot locations all over the world that coincides with the number of wigs the main character Sydney Bristow seems to have.

Smallville (2001-)

Smallville is a complicated topic. The label says “How Clark Kent became Superman”. On its face it’s a show about teenage drama mixed with some action pieces. Many don’t like it because it often breaks with the official Superman canon (whatever that means in a comic universe that retcons itself all the time…). Others have problems with Clark himself who is not yet the iconic character he’s supposed to become. Still others had problems with the prolonged presence of Lana Lang and the very existence of the not-in-the-comic character Chloe Sullivan. And they are supported in their criticism by the often kitschy storylines and the Freak-of-the-Week episodes in the early seasons. The show also lacks a mastermind who has a clear idea of where the journey is supposed to end up. This was painfully obvious during the seventh and eighth season that fell flat on every aspect of story-telling.
But still, the show has something that draws me in – even though I never read a single Superman comic. Despite their problems the characters are really enjoyable and most of them undergo a real development. If I had to name a favourite character (excepting Clark) it would be Allison Mack’s Chloe Sullivan even though they heavily damaged the character in the last two years. The second one is Erica Durance’s Lois Lane who is slowly taking the place that is rightfully hers.
I have to admit I was nearly giving up on the show but the ninth season is developing really great so far – let’s just hope they can keep it up this time.

Firefly (2002)

Maybe it was so good because it was so short-lived but the 14 episodes of this series showed a potential worthy of a Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel) show. This show literally brought the wild west into space. One has to wonder what this show could have achieved if it would have had a reasonable lifetime.

Two and a Half Men (2003-)

Sitcoms have always been era-bound for me. I’ve watched many sitcoms during their original run. When I watched them again years later I didn’t find them as funny as the first time or don’t find them really funny at all anymore. Maybe all the sitcoms in this list will fare the same fate. But for now I really enjoy the two brothers, their house-keeper, their mother and their son/nephew very much.

Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009)

Most sci-fi shows are plot-oriented. The spaceship that flies from planet to planet to go where no one has gone before. The station that is the last hope for peace. The team that searches for technology to protect Earth from the Evil Overlords. The fleet around the Galactica also has a goal: to find Earth. But the story is about the crew of these ships and about their robotic enemies who are as diverse as the Humans. In the end it’s not as simple as in the beginning: Humans vs. Cylons. The journey will re-shape all of them in a way none of them could have anticipated.
Unfortunately the end was a bit disappointing because the writers thought too late about where the journey is supposed to be going.

House M.D. (2004-)

House is a typical Procedural. Basically every episode has the same general plot. If that were everything to it, I would not bother to watch it. But it is more. All the other characters sum up to a counter-balance to House, to keep him in check. While House spirals down in his medication addiction they try to pull him up again and they manifest as a wall when he tries to go too far. Every one of them is necessary and due to recent events in the sixth season I fear that one element will be sorely missed in future episodes: Humanity. They have to find a way to restore the balance. House doesn’t work with just House.

LOST (2004-2010)

A great mystery show that will hopefully have an end this year that is worthy of it. For me the entire appeal of the show depends now on if they manage to give satisfying answers to all (or at least most of) the riddles they produced over the last five years. Otherwise it might have the same fate as Battlestar Galactica. They promised that they would have a satisfying end in mind – let’s hope they can keep this promise. If they do this will be one of the most memorable shows of this decade.

Veronica Mars (2004-2007)

After the 80s I was never to much into private investigation stories but this show was highly praised – even though German television dump-aired it in the middle of the night. And it rightfully got the praise. It combines teenage drama and crime/PI stories to an excellent mix and has an excellent cast, especially the ones of the Mars family. Unfortunately the third season deviated from the way the story was told in the first two seasons and the show never got a fourth season. But these three seasons are absolutely worth checking out.

Bones (2005-)

Another Procedural that combines technological overdose and a relatively strict plot pattern. But it has a fascinating set of characters who complement each other (both at work as well as emotionally). Just with House I do not watch it for the case of the week but to see how the characters grow and how they struggle with their past and try to find their future.

Doctor Who (2005-)

The Brits are different. But that doesn’t make them less interesting. The Doctor is a national institution just like the Queen. The show as a whole has been running since 1963 with a big break during the nineties. In 2005 they revived the show and the Ninth Doctor and his companion Rose took the TARDIS and travelled to the end of the Earth. The Tenth Doctor even took it to the end of the universe itself. And in 2010 the Eleventh Doctor will take command of ship and he too will travel to places and times one can hardly imagine.
In order to like Doctor Who one has to like a certain kind of humour and has to appreciate weird stories and ideas. To give you an idea: If you like/disliked the The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book series by Douglas Adams or the “Thursday Next” book series by Jasper Fforde or the Australian TV Show Farscape you’re probably going to like/dislike Doctor Who.

How I Met Your Mother (2005-)

In one regard sitcoms are like all other shows: There are those that are episode-based and those that are arc-based and then there are those in the middle. While Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory are more (though not strictly) episode-based, so is HIMYM more arc-based. The very title points to it. In this regard HIMYM is the successor of Friends; the life of the characters is actually changing and not a (relative) constant.
Although, now that the show is in its fifth year I feel that it is time that Ted actually meets his future wife. I don’t have the desire to drag out every show endlessly. I prefer a good closure over a never-ending story.

Supernatural (2005-2010?)

Two things brought me to Supernatural: Firstly my disappointment of Smallville over the last two years. While reading and writing in the KryptonSite.com forums I often read good comments about this show that otherwise totally went below my radar. Secondly my getting closer to the horror genre by watching Buffy and Angel. I’ve never been a great friend of the horror genre and probably never will be – but this show intrigued me. At first it looked like a standard Monster-of-the-Week show but soon it developed its own story-arc that is culminating in this year’s battle against the apocalypse and Lucifer himself.
According to the show runner, this will be the last year of Dean’s and Sam’s journey and I really like that idea because then the show has managed something many shows fail to do: To tell one big story and to bring that story to a defined end.

Heroes (2006-)

Heroes is now in its fourth year and it’s doubtful whether there will be a fifth. It started with great promise and the first year was really great. But then basically everyone lost their way and the characters started to act uncharacteristically and erratically and unpredictably and it all went down the drain. I am still watching it because I like the characters but it’s not nearly as much fun as in the beginning.
If you’re new to this show, buy the first season and probably leave it that.

The Big Bang Theory (2007-)

The best sitcom there currently is. The four geeks and their hot neighbour are a really great ensemble and the hilariousness goes up to eleven when Penny and Sheldon clash into each other. There’s nothing I can laugh more about than these five.

Burn Notice (2007-)

I don’t even remember how I stumbled across this show but Michael Westen is basically James Bond and Q in one person. He’s the spy who builds his gadgets himself. His entourage is also great: The trigger-happy ex-IRA ex-girlfriend, the now retired former spy and friend – and his mother. Since he can’t work as spy anymore he has become the local MacGyver / Michael Knight / A-Team of Miami, Florida. He still tries to get his old “job” back but there is someone who does not want him back and Michael has no idea, why.

Chuck (2007-)

Chuck is an action comedy about a guy who accidentally gets all the secrets of the CIA and NSA uploaded into his brain. What makes things worse: His knowledge is now the only copy in existence. He gets two personal bodyguards: The CIA agent Sarah Walker and the NSA Major John Casey. The three of them try to use Chuck’s knowledge to protect the country while hiding the fact that he knows what he knows and without getting exposed as spies by enemies and family.
This show is pure fun and I am really glad that they got a third season. The three main characters are great but all the supporting characters from Chuck’s family and the Buy More superstore form a great ensemble.

True Blood (2008-)

There are Vampires in the world and they live openly among us. But not only Vampires, but also mind-readers and shape-shifters and others. And in Bon Temps, Louisiana the waitress Sookie Stackhouse meets Bill – the very first Vampire in their small town. But mankind has still getting used to the idea that Vampires actually exist and there are quite a few animosities between both groups, especially when people get killed and it looks like Vampires were behind it.
This is a very graphic show based on the “Sookie Stackhouse” book series by Charlotte Harris. But it’s quite fascinating to watch all these different people and how they deal with life (and death).

Being Human (2009-)

A Vampire, a Werewolf and a Ghost are moving in together. What sounds like a joke is basically the question that what it means to be Human. All three struggle with themselves and their fate. The Vampire is the oldest one; he’s fought as a young man in the First World War. The other two have only recently become “different”. This British series is not a comedy although it is funny at times and as most British series relatively short (the first season has only six episodes). But the story it’s telling is really worth watching.

So, that’s it. Let’s hope that this new decade can at least hold the quality bar if not even outshine the last decade since the producers should have learned by now that high-quality television is something viewers do appreciate.

Let me start this post with a constraint. This post is not about science-fiction shows or shows that portray obvious über-equipment (like K.I.T.T.). This is about shows that at least try to pretend to display “reality”. I am of course aware that there’s a thin line but I hope than I can show my point during this excursus.

But first this College Humor video:

Technical equipment has always been part of TV shows that play in the “here and now”. And why shouldn’t it? It’s part of our every day life, so it should play a part in the TV shows we are watching. The questions are, what part, how big a part and how realistically the equipment is used. And – to give my conclusion at the beginning – I think the more modern a show is and the more real-world technologies there are the more unrealistic becomes its portrayal.

But let me bring you back to the dawn of time (at least as far as I am concerned). Back in the 1980s I watched a lot of 70s and 80s shows. These were mostly Cop or PI shows in one form or another: The Fall Guy, Riptide, T.J. Hooker, MacGyver, The A-Team, … the list goes on. In regards of using technology (in the widest sense) we can safely pick MacGyver and The A-Team.
MacGyver could build a bomb out of a ball pen and a wire (so to speak ). But there’s always been a scientific base in what he did, even if they left out some ingredients of his home-cooked explosives. The A-Team on the other hand only needed some steel plates and a welding torch to build the crudest – yet effective – tanks to beat the bad guys. The most advanced technology in these shows was a car phone. Computers were still huge room-filling machines with whirring magnetic tapes.

Then came the nineties but even then I can’t remember any over-usage of equipment in the earlier half. Sure, PCs became more prominent on the screen but I’d say they were used in a somewhat believable way. But I have to admit, I didn’t watch that many “real world” shows at this time, so my memories are unreliable. In the second half of the last decade PCs became more common and they began to have Internet connections. “Normal” characters also began to have cell phones. For example, in the pilot episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow’s hacking into the city archives to retrieve sewer system blueprints. That scenario does not scream to me “How unrealistic!”. Many hackers are young and net security had not yet become that big an issue.

The biggest blunders in regards to computer technology came from the movies in those years, not TV shows. I will only say Hackers and The Net. But they became the templates. Somehow writers got it in their heads that computers would make anything possible.

And so the current decade began. Smallville, Alias, 24, CSI, Bones, … again, the list goes on. Computers, cell phones, surveillance cameras, PDAs and don’t forget the satellites became the wands of the 21st century – at least on screen. Suddenly there was a database for everything. Satellites could detect brainwaves from orbit. Computers could enhance pictures from surveillance cameras and could show details that weren’t there in the original footage. Face recognition software could find a person from a bad sketch in no time, even if it had to search 50 million entries. A person can manipulate a surveillance video stream in real-time – from his PDA! A computer can be asked where a certain kind of sand is originating and it will tell you the place down to the mile.

Voodoo and magic combined could not deliver the results computers seemingly can.

I don’t have a problem with it per se. I have a problem with it when it interferes with good story-telling. The computer has become a deus-ex machina. Whenever writers have written themselves into a corner that can’t be solved by good story-telling they don’t decide to re-write the part that led them into the corner. No, the corner-character either goes to a computer himself or he calls someone who sits in front of a computer. “Hey Jane, it’s me, John. Could you please hack into the local pizza stores around 10th street and 5th avenue and look for orders without cheese because the bad guy is lactose-intolerant?” – “No problem, give me four minutes.” (3.14159 minutes later) “I’ve got it. ‘Joey’s Pizza’ didn’t have an Internet connection, but satellite radio frequency detection of that area shows that their WLAN was on. I hacked into the cell phone of a guy sitting in the café on the other side of the street, enabled his Bluetooth and connected to the notebook of a guy in the pizzeria. From there I opened a WLAN port and got into the system. The guy you’re looking for always orders pepperoni pizza delivered to 4711 10th street. I’ve hacked into traffic CCTV and can see him now sitting by the window ….” *facepalm*

They don’t even try to hide the absurdity anymore. When Marshall (Alias) or Chloe (24) are writing voice recognition lie detectors to be used by a cell phone within 20 minutes (not 20 TV show minutes but in-universe minutes) it isn’t even exceptional anymore, it’s just a normal day at the office.

As much as I enjoy these shows, things like that are always pulling me out of the story and destroy my suspension of disbelief. I can’t take them seriously anymore in that regard and that diminishes my enjoyment and I am telling myself that there’s has to be a way of writing a thrilling story without pulling a rabbit out of the hat every other minute. Why bother with the actual murder in Bones when they solve the case with the help of technology that does not exist in the first place? They could find a pile of ashes and Angela would still be able to reconstruct a face and to show where the bullet went through the arm and ripped open the artery. And bug boy Jack would find sediments between the ashes that proves that the murder took place 2.71828 miles north-north-east from where the remains were found which then inevitably leads to the killer.

That’s the reason I often prefer science-fiction shows. They don’t pretend that it’s real what they are showing. There it’s “What You See Is What You Get”. Some writer invented a piece of technobabble and it can be used in whatever way he seems fit. “And how does the Heisenberg compensator work?” – “It works very well, thank you.”

So what I am saying is that maybe writers should think more “backwards”. Go to the end and think about how your character believably got there. Yes sometimes you can use technology and sometimes it even can be a bit unrealistic. But don’t use it as a Swiss army knife to solve every problem your character encounters. Trust me, the viewer will appreciate it.

Two and a Half Men

What’s the show about?
After his wife has thrown him out, Alan Harper has moved in with his brother Charlie who is a ad jingle composer, a womanizer and lives on a beach house. On the weekends Alan’s son Jake lives also there.

“Pilot”
Just when he was about to get laid, Charlie’s brother Alan calls him and asks whether he can move in for a few days when he’s already standing in front of Charlie’s bedroom door. Alan’s wife has thrown him out but he believes that it’s just a phase – Charlie doubts it. And on the weekend Alan’s son Jake also moves also in. Charlie’s life is about to be turned upside down.

My Opinion
Charlie and Jake are a great team and Alan has a cool dry humour when it comes to Charlie’s sex life and his behaviour towards women. But the supporting cast is also awesome: Bertha the housekeeper and grandma Evelyn and Rose – Charlie’s personal stalker. One of the funniest sitcoms these days and from the same producers as The Big Bang Theory.

Leverage

What’s the show about?
Black King? White Knight? Nate is a former insurance investigator but now he works with a thief (Parker), a hacker (Hardison), a hitter (Eliot) and a grifter (Sophie) to help people the normal law can’t or won’t help. Nate is a master at Xanatos Speed Chess and he uses this ability to outmanoeuvre his opponents and get what he wants.

“The Nigerian Job”
The CEO of an airplane manufacturer hires Nate to be the boss of a gang of thieves to steal back blueprints that were stolen from him. But he has played them all and tries to get them killed. Now Nate is turning the tables. He hires a new face and old “friend” of his, Sophie, and together they are getting the prints back and the CEO in trouble.

My Opinion
It’s a worthy successor of the 80’s A-Team and basically as unrealistic – which didn’t matter then and doesn’t matter now. Back then B.A. welded some steel together and built some form of tank, today Hardison is manipulating any electronic device to get hoodwink the bad guy. The characters are funny to watch and two of them (Nate and Sophie) have an even more personal connection.

Dollhouse

What’s the show about?
The Dollhouse is an institution that provides people. The so-called “actives” have a wiped memory, no clue about their former lives. When sent on an engagement they are imprinted with all the knowledge and skills they need for this. The engagement can be anything from a hot weekend orgy to negotiating a kidnapping. The actives are supposedly volunteers and they will get back their lives after five years of service. FBI agent Ballard is trying to expose this and the Dollhouse has problems of their own: The wipe is not as clean as it should be and one of their actives went rogue.

“Ghost”
After his daughter was kidnapped and he was warned not to involve the police, Mr. Crestejo engages an active. She’s imprinted with the knowledge of the best kidnapping negotiators and is also given a background where she was kidnapped herself to become the best person for this situation money can buy. Meanwhile FBI agent Ballard still tries to find this mysterious “Dollhouse” but his superiors doubt it even exists and warn him to not to step on any more toes on this ghost hunt.

My Opinion
Most people (myself included) agree that it started out rather slowly with a engagement of the week pattern but in the second half of the first season it got better when they truly began to explore the Dollhouse itself and its inner workings. The ratings weren’t good either and when Fox had to decide whether to kill Dollhouse or Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the cancelled the latter. I will definitively watch the second season and hope that the ratings go up.

Night Court

What’s the show about?
Judge Harold “Harry” T. Stone presides a night court in Manhattan where he and his team process mostly cases of solicitation, theft and other minor demeanours. Every night there are different whack jobs and weirdos that await their judgement and Harry is sentencing them unless he shows someone his newest magic trick.

“All You Need Is Love”
On the last day in office the mayor has appointed a new judge to the bench. Since it was a Sunday evening nobody was home – except for the man at the bottom of the list: The very young Judge Harold T. Stone. When he arrives there everybody is aghast and can’t really believe that this man is a judge, especially since he doesn’t behave that way. Instead he shoots can snakes out of a gun and shows magic tricks. But when he’s in the court room he knows what he’s doing even when it doesn’t look like it.

My Opinion
It was a great team and I had many laughs long before Ally McBeal ever entered a court room. I especially liked John Larroquette in the role of the assistant DA Dan Fielding and Richard Moll in the role of the somewhat slow yet harmless giant Bull. The show also had a great number of known guest actors such as Michael J. Fox and Brent Spiner. Especially Spiner had a recurring role as a Yugoslavian hillbilly.

21 Jump Street

What’s the show about?
Young cops in their early twenties – who look even more younger than they are – are going undercover in high schools to investigate crimes that happen there – drug dealings, extortion, car thefts, … The unit works out of an old chapel on Jump Street. Sometimes they go into a school alone, sometimes as buddies, sometimes as enemies. But in the end they bust the bad guys.

“Pilot”
Officer Tom Hanson has a problem: He looks younger than he is and his colleagues and (what’s worse) criminals don’t take him seriously. Even though he has now a partner who is willing to work with him the captain can’t risk his officers getting hurt or killed. But he has a solution: Hanson is transferred to an undercover unit where he meets his future partners: the officers Doug Penhall, Harry Ioki, the beautiful Judy Hoffs and their captain who was in Woodstock.

My Opinion
It was a cool show for its time but I bought the first season only for sentimental reasons. Now and then an episode is ok, but I wouldn’t watch the entire show again. Still I enjoyed seeing Johnny Depp and Peter DeLouise in their early roles again. DeLouise (son of Dom DeLouise) has mostly stopped acting but instead became a director and producer, most notably on Stargate SG-1 where he has the occasional cameo.

And I don’t think I have to say much about Depp:

The IT Crowd

What’s the show about?
Roy, Moss and Jen are the IT department at Reynholm Industries. Roy and Moss are the typical geeks while Jen has no clue about computers at all. But together they manage to live a rather quite life in the basement where they are only disturbed when some idiot upstairs has no idea how to work with a computer.

“Yesterday’s Jam”
Jen has just been hired by Reynholm Industries to become the head of the IT department. She has no clue about computers but luckily for her neither has Reynholm. But when the actual computer guys Roy and Moss get wind of this they try to expose her.

My Opinion
The humour of this show is very British and might not appeal to everyone. It might come to mind but you can’t really compare this show with The Big Bang Theory even though both are very nerdy. I hope that there will be a fourth season – or Version 4.0 as they call it.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

What’s the show about?
At some point in the future the computer system Skynet will become self-aware and start a nuclear assault on mankind. Only a few people survive this holocaust and fight against Skynet and its machines (e.g. the Terminators). The leader of that resistance is John Connor. But that is then, this is now. Now John Connor is a teenage boy who tries to survive attacks before the war has even started. At his side fight his mother, Sarah, and the reprogrammed Terminator called Cameron and together they try to destroy Skynet before it’s activated.

What happened before?
The series takes place two years after the second movie and ignores the third one. It also shifts the time-table forward, making Terminator 2: Judgement Day take place in 1997.

“Pilot”
It’s 1999 and Sarah and John Connor have once again moved to a new town. They live under the alias “Reese” but that’s a fatal mistake since that’s the name of John’s birth-father and the Terminator called Cromartie finds them this way. Luckily for John one of his new classmates, a beautiful young girl named Cameron is also a machine and he protects him. But they have to flee and it’s not a matter of where but of when. Cameron initiates a time travel and they find themselves in the year 2007, four years before Judgement Day.

My Opinion
I began to watch this show open-minded. I was never too invested in the Terminator saga, so a series that ignored a movie was not a problem for me. And I also liked all the major actors from both seasons (after which it was cancelled). But there were some plot issues I couldn’t cope with. There was no time travel logic at all – i.e. even less than in the movies. People and Terminators travelled from the future whenever they wanted, no biggie. Still, at some point I seem to have accepted this because I didn’t notice it that much in the second season. But the second season had this unsatisfactory three-dots-arc I didn’t care for and in the end the only thing that wanted to make me watch a third season was the cliffhanger. But that’s not enough.

Roseanne

What’s the show about?
The Conners are a working-class family with three children: Becky, Darlene and their son DJ. Dan is a construction worker and mechanic and Roseanne works at first in a factory but later opens her own diner “The Lunch Box”. This sitcom follows the life of that family and those close to it.

“Life and Stuff”
A typical day in the Conner household. Dan tries to get a new job as construction worker but when this fails he helps his buddies working on a truck engine. Roseanne has to leave work early to go school and discuss Darlene’s problems with her history teacher.

My Opinion
I always liked this show because like Married … with Children they broke with the usual “happy family sitcom” routine. In addition the problems the Conners had over the years felt somewhat real and weren’t always resolved at the end of the episode.

PS: Guess who was a regular guest star in the first season, many years before ER or Ocean’s Eleven? Him:

SeaQuest DSV

What’s the show about?
The SeaQuest is a Deep Submerge Vehicle and the largest submarine there is. Its task is to keep the fragile peace on Earth’s oceans that have become farming grounds and mining fields for all kind of entrepreneurs and countries. The SeaQuest works under the mandate of the UEO – the United Earth & Oceans Organization and is only partly a military ship. It’s also a research vessel and a lot of scientists live and work aboard it.

“To Be or Not to Be”
A year ago Commander Ford had to relieve Captain Stark of her command because she intended to fire nuclear torpedos on rivalling parties. Now the ship belongs to the UEO and Admiral Noyce is trying to convince Nathan Bridger to take command. He has designed the ship but after the death of his son he’s also retired and has no intention to return to this world. But he agrees to take a look and when a pirate sub starts to attack underwater colonies he hasn’t really a choice.

My Opinion
I liked this show, even the third season – which was different and where the SeaQuest had a new captain. The ship was an underwater version of the Enterprise but due to the environment they could tell new stories and old stories differently. Unfortunately large parts of the crew were replaced from season to season and they never had a real chance to become a well-developed team. Especially the more distinct members of the first season were replaced by younger people who didn’t have the charm of the old ones.

The Big Bang Theory

What’s the show about?
The sitcom revolves around the lives of three physicists, one engineer and one waitress. The two physicists Sheldon and Leonard live across the hall from Penny the waitress. Leonard is in love with Penny but she hasn’t responded yet. Sheldon and Leonard are often visited by their friends Rajesh and Howard (the latter one being the engineer) and when their world clashes with Penny’s hilarity ensues.

“Pilot”
Leonard and Sheldon have just aborted a high IQ sperm donation when they discover that they have a new neighbour: Penny, a waitress at “The Cheesecake Factory”. When Penny takes a shower in their apartment (and hopefully doesn’t discover the Darth Vader shampoo or the Luke Skywalker conditioner) she asks Leonard for a favour…

My Opinion
One of my favourite sitcoms of all time. The five are so hilarious together with Sheldon being the heyday of most episodes. Sheldon is totally unaware of his rudeness and his arrogance and it’s great fun to watch him and the others. I can’t wait for the third season to begin next week and I am glad that the network has already ordered a fourth season.

Part 8

Disc 1

Galactica Discovers Earth

Synopsis: After many yahren, the Galactica has finally discovered Earth. But Earth isn’t the save heaven they had hoped for. They are technologically inferior and wouldn’t survive a Cylon attack. Adama decides to send small teams down there to speed up Earth’s development while he leads the fleet away from Earth since they are still followed by the Cylons. Troy (who was called Boxey when he was a child) and Dillon are being send to a country called “United States of America” where they want to meet with a leading nuclear scientist. And the local TV reporter Jamie Hamilton becomes their “tour guide”.

My Opinion: And once again Los Angeles was destroyed by aliens – even though it was only a simulation. I liked this first episode of the series, it showed promise. To bad the bridge sets seemed to be destroyed. The new bridge looked far inferior to the old one, but I liked to see Colonel Boomer again. I had forgotten that another recurring character (besides Adama) from the old show reappeared in this show. I also like the new two-seated Vipers because I like Jamie and that gives her the chance to ride along.

Galactica Discovers Earth, Part II

Synopsis: Troy and Dillon have been ordered back to the Galactica and they brought Jamie along (they didn’t have much choice). Dr. Xaviar has travelled back in time to advance Earth’s development in th past. He’s gone into the year 1944 and to Peenemünde in Nazi-Germany. He’s helping to develop the V2 and must be stopped. Troy, Dillon and Jamie follow him there.

My Opinion: The whole plot doesn’t make much sense. Even if he could change the past, 36 years are clearly not enough to catapult Earth’s technology forward in a way that it would be of any use in 1980. And even though the Nazis were the most advanced in regards to rocket science at this point in time I think it’s very unlikely that the “Master Race” would be very open-minded towards a truly superior alien race.

Galactica Discovers Earth, Part III

Synopsis: Troy and Dillon can successfully sabotage the start of the V2 and it explodes shortly after launch. Xaviar is accused of being a spy and gets arrested but can escape, returns to his Viper and travels back to his own time. Jamie, Dillon and Troy follow him but lose his trail. After they successfully returned Jamie to California a new problem arises: The cloaking field has deactivated and made the Vipers visible. They are now in the hand of the US military and they need to get them back.

My Opinion: Even if the V2 test had worked (btw: the V2 tests started in 1942, in 1944 they were already mass-produced in slave labour), one year later a nuclear bomb over Europe would have still ended the war.
Also: They won’t kill german soldiers because that would change the future but they free an entire train of Jews who were about to be brought to Auschwitz. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t critizise the break-out but then they might as well shoot the Germans.

The Super Scouts

Synopsis: After the Cylons have attacked and destroyed the fleet’s school ship, Dillon and Troy have to evacuate 12 of the children down to Earth. There they disguise themselves as boy (and girl) scouts. Due to the higher gravity and the denser atmosphere in the fleet the children are stronger and faster as normal children of Earth. But that doesn’t protect them from Earth’s diseases and especially not from water that is poisoned by a chemical plant.

My Opinion: C’mon, gimme a break! Kids that jump 30 foot high? How high can Troy and Dillon jump? The Empire States Building? It’s always a good idea to critizise how we treat our environment, but to shift the focus in a Sci-Fi show from their main protagonists to a bunch of kids who (of course) do childish things isn’t a good idea.

The Super Scouts, Part II

Synopsis: Troy and Dillon have to care for three of their children who are very ill. But that’s not their only problem. The military is after them because they detected the landing of the shuttle. The police is after them because they are accused of bank robbery. And the local workers are after them because they threaten the chemical plant.

My Opinion: And now a real “flying saucer”, too. This ship looks nothing like a ship from the colonies. Why would they use such a design? No, these two episodes didn’t work for me at all.

Disc 2

Spaceball

Synopsis: Troy and Dillon are called back to the Galactica for an important mission. But it’s a trick of Xaviar’s and now they are sitting in a disabled Viper somewhere between Earth and the fleet. Meanwhile Jamie has to care for the scouts and to protect them both from the US military as well as Xaviar who wants to use them as bargaining chip. Jamie hides them in a baseball camp.

My Opinion: Don’t win! Win! Don’t win! Win! Jamie’s constant change of minds were a bit annoying, especially since the point of this episode was totally lost on me. There was nothing in it but to show some special effects of super-kids playing baseball.

The Night the Cylons Landed

Synopsis: A Galactica patrol has encountered a new and improved Cylon Raider and engaged it. Both ships were damaged but the Raider is drifting towards Earth and will crash north of New York City. Troy and Dillon travel by plane there but they assume their patrol ship will crash there. Only two Cylons survive the crash but one of them is an advanced model who looks like a Human. And it’s Halloween…

My Opinion: Together with the first part of this series, Galactica Discovers Earth, this and the following episode were re-cut to form the movie Galactica III: Conquest of the Earth. And I have to say that I like them. I thought it was an ingenious idea to hide two Cylons in plain sight, but since it’s Halloween no one questions their appearance. And although these human Cylons are fully mechanical they are obviously the template for the human Cylons in the next series.
And it seems to have become a running gag that no matter where Troy and Dillon go, they get in some kind of trouble with the local law enforcement and that they steal a police car.

The Night the Cylons Landed, Part II

Synopsis: The Cylons were invited to a Halloween party and the famous radio moderator Wolfman Jack will be there. They want to capture him in order to get to the “communication center”. From there they will send a distress signal and reveal Earth’s position. Dillon and Troy have to prevent that at any cost. But they are not only the chaser, they are also the chased.

My Opinion: It was only years later that I learned that Wolfman Jack was a real person but I liked the character from the start. What I didn’t like about this episode (and what wasn’t in the movie) were Troy’s and Dillon’s “super jumps”. But I really liked how the (seriously damaged) Centurion tried to protect the Cylon Andromus and jumped from that skyscraper and landed in the dumpster.

Space Croppers

Synopsis: The Cylons have destroyed the agricultural ships and the fleet needs new crops. The Cylons hope that it will finally lead them to Earth. Dillon and Troy buy a piece of land from a farmer and try to grow plants there. But the farmer (and now they) are harassed by their neighbour who owns pretty much all land there and he controls the water reservoirs. But people who can fly through space can also make it rain.

My Opinion: I can’t remember ever seeing this episode before. And to be honest: When they were harassed by their neighbour (played by MacGyver’s Dana Elcar) I expected to see a certain black van with a red bar on it: “If you have a problem. If no one else can help. Maybe you can hire – The A-Team.”
Since the scout kids were back, they used “super jumps” to spread the seeds and used the “flying saucer” to make it rain. ship I didn’t like this episode very much.

The Return of Starbuck

Synopsis: Doctor Zee tells Commander Adama about a dream he had. It includes a great battle and a great warrior called Starbuck who had to be left behind on a lonely planet. There he repairs on of the Cylons who crashed there with him in order to have some company. But soon they are not only 2, but 3.5: Cy has found a pregnant woman and Starbuck has to get her off the planet because soon other Cylons will come looking for their patrol.

My Opinion: That was a great episode. It was well told and had great characters in it. I loved to see the developing friendship between Starbuck and Cy. It was a bit like Enemy Mine and I was really sad when Cy “died” because he protected Starbuck from these other Cylons. And it’s pretty ironic that this episode worked very well and didn’t need many FX shots (except for the re-used battle scenes in the beginning where Boomer has to say goodbye to his friend).

The Series – My Opinion: Let’s face it: The series isn’t that good. The special effects were basically reduced to “super jumps”, to cloak each and everything and to make their motorcycles fly. And while it maybe OK to destroy the same Raider in the upper right corner over and over again, it looks odd when your motorcycles always fly over the same skyline no matter in which countryside you had been before – especially when you do it in nearly every episode.
It was a good idea to bring the fleet to Earth – they had told many space stories in the original series – but they didn’t make anything out of it. Instead four out of ten episodes revolved around a bunch of kids and the main characters were reduced to kindergarten teachers.

Battlestar Galactica (2003)

The King of Queens

What’s the show about?
Doug Heffernan is a delivery man for International Parcel Service (IPS). His wife, Carrie, works as a secretary for a law firm. Both live in a house in Queens, New York and in the basement of that house lives Carrie’s father Arthur. That living arrangement leads to all kinds of funny situations.

“Pilot”
Doug has just got his new TV which is placed in Doug’s sanctuary – the basement, when Carrie’s sister comes to the house to tell them that Arthur’s wife (or girlfriend? – she does not seem to be Carrie’s or her sister’s mother) has just died. When Arthur tries to live alone he accidentally burns down his house and has to move into the basement of the Heffernan’s house…

My Opinion
Another really good sitcom and this one I’ll finish when I get the remaining seasons on DVD.

Friends

What’s the show about?
A group of mid-20 New Yorkers lives in close proximity and spends much time either at Monica’s or at the nearby coffee house “Central Perk”. We see how their life developes until the mid-30s.

“The Pilot” or “The One Where Monica Gets A Roommate”
Ross’ wife has just moved out because she found out that she’s a lesbian and Ross is devastated. The others (Monica, Phoebe, Chandler and Joey) try to chear him up but then Rachel steps in their life (again) who has just left her to-be-husband at the altar.

My Opinion
As I said before I love that show and I will re-watch it definitively this year.

Ally McBeal

What’s the show about?
Ally McBeal is a lawyer and works at the Boston law firm “Cage, Fish and Associates”. This firm represents clients in the most unusual cases. Additionally Ally works there with her former lover Billy who is married to another lawyer of that firm.

“Pilot”
Ally gets fired because a co-lawyer of her’s makes sexual advances towards her but doesn’t get fired because he is higher in the hierarchy. But then she meets Richard Fish with whom she has studied at Harvard and he offers her a job at his newly-found law firm. And Ally sues her former employer…

My Opinion
The series is from the same author as Boston Legal (David E. Kelley). In both shows funny and/or absurd cases are brought to court. I love funny lawsuits since the days of Night Court.

JAG

What’s the show about?
The JAG ist the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the United States Navy. They are charged with the defense and prosecution of military law as provided in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. We follow the cases of Lt. Harmon Rabb jr., a former fighter pilot and his partner Maj. Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie all around the world.

“Pilot”
The CAG of the aircraft carrier USS Seahawk and his female Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) shoot down two MIGs over the Adriatic Sea. In the night after that the RIO is being thrown overboard and killed. Lt Rabb and Lt. jg. Pike take over the investigation of the missing RIO…

My Opinion
This show had its highs and its lows. Being not an US-american the patriotism was sometimes a bit to much for my taste, especially when it came to the Iraq war. Also that “we are the best of the best of the best”-attitude was an overdose at times. But in the big picture I liked the show.

Battlestar Galactica

(2003)

What’s the show about?
The Battlestar Galactica leads a group of refugee ships away from the destructed twelve colonies of Kobol to what they hope to find: the thirteenth colony, a planet called “Earth”. They are hunted by the Cylons, a race of Robots that were once created by the Humans.

What happened before?
The new series is a re-imagination of the old one, not a continuation, therefore nothing “happened before”. There are however many similarities between both shows but just as many differences.

“Battlestar Galactica”
The Battlestar Galactica is about to be decommissioned, it was commisioned during the last Cylon War. But then the unbelievable happens: after an armistice that lasted 40 years, the Cylons attack the colonial fleet and all the colonies. They have access to the colonial defense systems and are able to disable any resistance. After a great deal of the fleet is destroyed, the Galactica is the last remaining Battlestar and Adama becomes the head of the remaining forces. Meanwhile the secretary of eduction Laura Roslin is sworn into the office of the President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Adama plans to strike back, but President Roslin has another point of view…

My Opinion
Really great show and I hope we are going to see the 4th season (that’s currently uncertain due to the WGA strike). I’d hate to see that show be left open-ended, especially because they promised to bring the story to an end in the 4th season.

Smallville

What’s the show about?
Clark Kent was raised by the Kents in Smallville, Kansas. But Clark is no ordinary teenager. Clark is Kal-El, an alien from the planet Krypton. He has super-strengt, super-vision and many other special abilities. Clark was sent by his parents to Earth because Krypton was on the eve of destruction. Here on Earth he lives the official life of a farm boy and the inofficial life of the rescuer of people who need his help.

What happened before?
I am not entirely sure, but I believe that Smallville is also a re-imagination of the Superman universe.

“Pilot”
A meteor shower hits a small town in Kansas: Smallville. But with that shower a spaceship arrives and it contains a small boy that is adopted by the Kents. 12 years later. Clark Kent, Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross are freshemens on the Smallville Highschool. And Lex Luthor, son of Lionel Luthor takes over the management of the Smallville fertilizer plant. But then an accident happens where Lex nearly gets killed – if it weren’t for Clark. And a man awakes from a coma in which he had laid for twelve years…

My Opinion
Great show, lots of Freak-of-the-Week episodes but it has some great storyarcs, too.

Highlander

What’s the show about?
Duncan MacLeod was born 400 years ago in the scottish Highlands and he is immortal – at least as long as nobody cuts his head off. He is not alone. There are more immortals out there like him and they all are waiting for the Gathering, when only few of them are left alive and they fight for The Prize.

What happened before?
For this series to work it has to be places in an alternate reality then the first Highlander movie (Why do I say “the first Highlander movie?” There is only one Highlander movie ). In the movie Connor MacLeod fought against Kurgan in the Gathering and won The Prize.

“The Gathering”
A young man breaks into Duncan MacLeod’s antiques store and is mistaken for an immortal. But then the immortal Slan Quince enters and is going for Duncan’s head. Additionally another immortal arrives: Connor MacLeod, the same clan but another vintage. But Slan doesn’t give up that easily, he wants Duncan’s head badly…

My Opinion
I really liked the show especially with the flashbacks to former times. But it was really sad when Tessa died.

The A-Team

What’s the show about?
The A-Team is a former Vietnam War commando unit that is accused of commiting a crime they didn’t commit. While on the run from the US military they help out people who are threatened by criminals.

“Mexican Slayride”
A good friend of the reporter Amy Allen disappears in Mexico. She tries to get in contact with an elite commando, called The A-Team. They are supposed to be soldiers of fortune but they are very hard to find. But she finds them and they agree to Mexico…

My Opinion
It’s a 80s classic show. Practically every episode is based upon the same basic plot, but it’s a fun show to watch – at least until they slightly changed the concept in the fifth season where the show went harder – and was cancelled. In germany the show still runs every weekend on free TV.

Airwolf

What’s the show about?
Airwolf is a specially-equipped and -armored helicopter that can go supersonic. Stringfellow Hawke is the pilot of that gunship and he keeps it hidden from The Firm, a branch of the CIA who developed and built Airwolf. Hawke however uses the helicopter in missions for The Firm, mostly in Third-World-Countries and behind the Iron Curtain.

“Shadow of the Hawke”
Dr. Muffet is the creator of Airwolf but after a successful demonstrations he kidnaps the helicopter ti Libya from where he attacks french Mirages and sinks an US destroyer. Stringfellow Hawke is a former test pilot of Airwolf and he gets the assignment of returning Airwolf.

My Opinion
Airwolf is the total opposite to The A-Team when it comes to the death toll. Although I liked the show it became ludicrous when the Airwolf crew vistited “East Germany”. But that can be said about almost every american movie/show in the 70s/80s, so I won’t hold it against Airwolf.

The Dukes of Hazzard

What’s the show about?
The Duke cousins Bo and Luke live together with their other cousin Daisy and their uncle on a farm in Hazzard County. The Dukes were once moonshiners and they still can make a good corn whiskey. All of the Dukes often get in trouble with the corrupt Sheriff and Boss Hogg but they can always beat them.

“One Armed Bandits”
Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltraine try to smuggle illegal slot machines into Hazzard County. But Bo, Luke & Daisy hijack the “fertilizer” truck and use the slot machines to keep the orphanage open.

My Opinion
Did you know that they scrapped over 300 Dodge Chargers to make that show? The only season I didn’t like was the one where just another pair of cousins came to Hazzard County and Bo and Luke went off to drive races.

Part 5