TV Ramblings on a Monday Night

A few random TV thoughts:

• Finally no more Theismann on Sunday OR Monday Night Football. Yippeee! I'll be able to watch football without his inane ramblings to muck up the experience. Jaws is so much easier to listen to, and he usually has something mildly intelligent to say. Maybe they'll even let him have some sort of feature where he breaks down game film. There's nothing better than watching Jaws break down film. (See, I have many geeky tendancies ... they aren't just limited to school and serialized tv!)
• The Discovery Channel's new miniseries Planet Earth is good and worth watching ... if you have a 34 inch or larger HD tv. We watched the first episode last night in HD (which incidentally also means without commercials on Discovery's HD Theater channel) and then another episode tonight on our decidedly low-def TiVo. Even the three-and-a-half year old was more distracted during tonight's low-def episode. In general though, it's absolutely a nature show worth plopping down on the couch and watching with your preschooler. Well produced, well narrated (by Sigourney Weaver), well filmed.
  
• According to the Futon Critic, October Road gets good in the third episode. I'll be watching, but with no fresh Grey's as a lead-in will anyone else be watching?
• We'll be watching 24 in real-time again tonight for the HD viewing experience (and because it's the only thing my husband will agree to watch with me out of the whole week -- although he's starting to get hooked on The Amazing Race, of all things!) . . . but watching 24 this season feels a little bit like a chore to me. Not sure why.
• New episodes of One Tree Hill were advertised initially as returning this week. But the CW, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that re-running episodes of The Next Pussycat Doll (seriously?) sells more ads on Wednesday nights than fresh episodes of OTH, so Lucas, Peyton and friends won't return until the first week in MAY! Methinks this is not a good sign for the prospects of renewal. Gilmore's return was also pushed back, but only one week--meaning that fresh episodes will air throughout sweeps.
  

OTH SOS!

Every year, Kristin Veitch from E! has an on-line campaign to save one show from the network ax. She gives an excellent run-down of which shows are most likely safe, which ones are "on the bubble," and which are likely doomed. Then you get to vote. The campaign has, apparently, had an effect on network execs in the past.

So who to vote for this year? Three shows I love are theoretically on the list as in need of Kristin's life raft. They are, in order of affection: 1) Friday Night Lights, 2) Gilmore Girls, and 3) One Tree Hill. But I voted for One Tree Hill. Why? 1) Because I'm confident that FNL is safe -- the NBC network execs apparently see its virtues and will give it another season to build ratings. 2) Because I'm certain that the fate of GG rests exclusively on whether or not Alexis and Lauren will sign on for another season for an amount that the CW is willing to fork over -- and word on the street is that they won't. And 3) because OTH's show runner Mark Schwahn has announced that, if they get a 5th season, he'll jump the story ahead 5 years so that all the characters will have finished college. This is just plain smart: it allows actors who don't want to come back an easy way to bail out of their characters -- and I have a sneaking suspicion that Sophia Bush might not want to come back to work with her cheating ex-husband Chad Michael Murray. It will also line up the ages of the characters much more closely with the age of the actors who play them. So I voted for OTH.

Who's going to win? I'd guess Veronica Mars may well be able to muster the most votes this year (and oddly enough, show runner Rob Thomas has apparently borrowed Mark Schwahn's plan to jump Veronica ahead 5 years to be an FBI agent if she comes back). The winner will be announced April 13.

Bridget's message to Tommy

I'm sitting here watching the triumphant return of Six Degrees, and every time I see Bridget I keep thinking about the baby-Brady in her belly. Her character, Whitney, just delivered the following speech:
"I'm sitting here, watching you, thinking ... I mean I'm angry with you, but I am really angry with myself ..."
"Why, for what?"
"For not listening to my gut, the little voice that kept telling me that I couldn't trust you ... I wanted so desperately to be part of the perfect couple and marry the perfect guy with the perfect job that I just couldn't see, didn't want to see what was so obvious .... I want you to get better, get back on your feet and I will too soon, I hope ... But all I know is that I can't have anything to do with you ... I mean ever."
"I understand."

It's like I got to sit in on the conversation she had with Tommy a few months ago... yikes. Damn you, Tom, for ruining a perfectly good ABC soap for me. I mean, Campbell Scott is no McDreamy, but this show is really not half bad... now if only I could watch without searching Bridget's profile for a baby bump!

Two Redeeming Features

This is the second time this year that I have wanted to (even planned to) really, really love a show and been utterly disappointed. This week's episode of October Road had only two redeeming features: 1) the cat in heat that was meowing outside Nick's window turned out to be Hannah and Sam's cat -- that made me grin -- a relatively clever little detail; 2) the final montage and last scene had GNR's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" playing behind it -- it was fun to hear something other than the brand new indie/small label rock that gets played (and then promo'd) on One Tree Hill and the O.C. (may it rest in peace).

Other than that, the show was utter disappointment. The writing is forced and poorly delivered. The plot is rather predictable and uninspired. I'll give it just one more episode to redeem itself ... and only because I loved Bryan Greenberg as Jake Jieglski on One Tree Hill.

Have I mentioned that you really ought to be watching Friday Night Lights? Oh, and Brothers and Sisters too.

You Ought to Post

Alright already. I know it's been a while since my last post, but I'm simply not inspired at the moment. I ought to post about October Road but it was too disappointing, so I can't bring myself to say much about it. I loved Bryan Greenberg as Jake on One Tree Hill and had high hopes for this show. I'll watch a couple more episodes and see if it starts to work. I ought to post about The Black Donnellys but, honestly, the jury's still out on that one. I'm still watching, but it's definitely not appointment viewing. I actually fell asleep last night, so I'll have to catch the end of it on TiVo.

I ought to post about Barack Obama, who's St. Patty's Day logo was brilliant.

But really I ought to figure out what pages we're supposed to have read for tax and advanced business associations. I think I'd better get on that. Only 5 weeks left of classes... and I suppose I ought to keep plugging along.

Hallelujah for YouTube

No O.C. and no Grey's tonight. So we're driving to Sugarloaf to get snowed in there rather than here. 24 inches predicted again! Yay for winter. In the meantime, here's the clip from the season finale of season 1 of the O.C. that actually drew Nathan out of his office for a look: