Now that I’ve had a few days to really take in the double episode ‘event’ I feel like I could probably write three posts about it. First off I think we should talk about the feel of the ‘event’. As much as I love Welling’s directing I think it was a mistake to have two directors split the episode. It was so clear that things changed halfway through. Welling is known for his love of light and big sweeping shots, lots of super closeups (especially of himself) and his use of color. As soon as the halfway point breaking scene came in you could feel the difference. We got straight on shots of the heroes and way too much light and conversely the scenes towards the end we saw way too much dark and three quarter profiles that left me wondering why they were there, what were they signifying?
The look aside I came off the episode feeling like it was good, I enjoyed it but it wasn’t Smallville’s best. Maybe it was because it was trying to be good and was visually really interesting but the show itself had nothing to offer it as far as back story or hype went. What I may have called ‘great’ Smallville in the past either included amazing actors or really really cheesy plots like Sneeze or Exploding babies. Two other types of good Smallville episodes are ones with great movement within the mythology and ones that were just really pretty. Maybe this one fit into the last two a little more.
One thing Smallville has to get down on its knees and grovel to Johns over is the fact that he so clearly walked in the door and set them up for the entirety of season 10. We’ve seen such a warble lately. The show was missing the big bad or they had great big bads and then they kill them in like two episodes. Then we’re left with Ollie’s past and that one where Lois gets knocked out and does some stuff. I think they’ve majorly failed with Zod this year. They’ve done so much better with him in the past. There were some great episodes this season giving some background on Krypton but he doesn’t scare me. I’m glad to see checkmate and maybe they’ll do something good with Tess Mercer again. Still proud of her.
A couple tag on comments – Star Girl sucked and she was way too much like first episode Kara Zor-El. The character didnt suck, the casting and the acting sucked. Dr Fate and Hawkman were epicly awesome and Icicle was rather meh but good enough for the purpose.
I’ve seen some people complaining about the costumes. I liked them. Thought they were fine. The painting was epic, amazing one liners and I totally think that the JLA or JSA could hold their own live action series. The final fight may have been a little underwhelming and total overkill of powers but I was entertained.
Okay, four episodes in. I think that’s enough to officially say that this show is awesome. Kinda makes me sad that I decided to go with the lead-up post for Spartacus instead, because Human Target is far more deserving of the extra blogness.
First up, a look at the basics: Human Target is an amazingly fast-paced action adventure romp of a show with a definite sense of humour. The three main characters (all of whom are awesome, but Jackie Earle Haley especially stands out for me, and not just because he was Rorschach.) are something of a mercenary/spy/awesome group who will help those in need, in exchange for… a favour, an heriloom, basically whatever Christopher Chance decides to take for payment. So far each of the cases has been drastically different from each other, which I’m hoping speaks well for the series’ longevity. Also, having Bear McCreary score your show is always a good move.
Next up we’ve got the guest stars. In four episodes we’ve had both Six and Gaeta, Emmanuelle Vaugier (and the show isn’t even on CW!), Firefly’s Sean Maher, Ethan Rom from Lost, and Sam Huntington. In four episodes! That’s pretty damn impressive to a connoisseur of geeky televisionals such as myself.
I also have to give Human Target some major geek points for ep 104. Not only did they have the Wilhelm Scream, but in one scene Sam Huntington was explaining Crisis on Infinite Earths to a group of monks. Namedropping the Anti-Monitor? They pretty much out-geeked the entirety of Big Bang Theory in one fell swoop!
In conclusion, if asked to describe the show in one sentence, it would be ‘imagine if 24 and Leverage had a baby’. If that sounds awesome to you (and it should), then go check out Human Target.
If Eli Stone had a time machine would he still be here today?
That’s what I started asking myself as I finally got around to working my way through the canceled second season of the show about a prophet lawyer who randomly bursts into lavish song and dance numbers. (Season two’s addition of Katie Holmes is fantastic btw) If Eli Stone had come out this year, or perhaps even last, would the show have received a more welcoming audience? I have to say yes and no.
Today’s TV landscape includes one key figure that changes the entire game – GLEE. We know it, we love it. It’s by no means the first show to go song and dance happy but it is one of the only ones to ever make it massively successful. We also have to give some credit to Efron and the High School Musical gang for making all this possible.
What Eli Stone tried to do was take it to a more adult level but maybe that’s where it went wrong, where it confused people. We turn to musicals for their cheese factor for the pure gooeyness of how much fun life looks when you can burst into song. Adding that to adult responsibilities, babies, disease, natural disasters and the justice system is a bit of a drag.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy this show and I wish it had got a longer run, mostly so I could see Victor Garber on my screen more often (though he has popped up on none other than Glee) but while I do believe today’s conditions are more favorable for a show of this type, I think their flavor was maybe just too much for prime time to handle – in concept. So many people, and networks dismiss shows on concept alone and never give them the chance to blossom. This is why we have to watch 2 hours of the biggest loser every week.
ABC will be airing Castle, in addition to it’s Monday night at 10 spot, on Sunday nights after the ‘is that still on?’ classic, Desperate Housewives. I used to watch Housewives religiously but it was one of those shows where after so many years and the loss of the original plot entirely, I just gave up on. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad move for Castle. At first I really enjoyed watching Castle on Monday nights after Heroes but since the season has returned from the winter break, Monday nights have been more than stacked.
Personally, I haven’t been able to watch Castle live for weeks based on the fact that my family always skypes to talk about how groan worthy Heroes was. Yes I’d rather complain than stop watching. Me and the entire Heroes watching audience. Monday nights are busy and the show is simply too good to be missed. The fact that it has massive syndication-abilty-ness gives me hope for the shows legacy but not much for it’s longevity. I don’t think this is a move because it’s doing poorly, I think it’s more of a compassionate move by a network that simply wants to see it do even better.
I think the Housewives audience would love to watch Castle but fact is, they probably don’t. I can really see the show picking up some more viewers from this switch. Also as ABC pointed out, this will take it out of the running against The Bachelor, which I dont know why anyone is watching anymore either but it’s probably not a bad idea.
We’ll have to see how it goes but I think this is a move I could get behind.
My verdict? Kinda not that good almost bad. Blood and Sand has a really unique visual style, somewhat like a more stylized, artistic version of 300. So, thumbs up in that department. The acting is also quite good, as is the action. It’s the plot that’s the problem.
The show is missing even a hint of the tongue-in-cheek, campy comedy that made Hercules and Xena so good. Everything is played very very serious, and… it’s boring. There’s no character, no voice to the show outside of the visuals. There’s very much the potential for an amazing show here, but someone needed to inject some life into it. I’m gonna go ahead and blame DeKnight for this, saying as he wrote both of the first two episodes.
I’m honestly not sure if I’ll watch anymore. Maybe eventually, when I have less other things I want to watch more.
This week’s Smallville debued back after their long hiatus to a measly 2.5 million viewers. Now, I don’t like to play the numbers game, because to me, the ratings are not often very accurate in indicating how GOOD a show is. We’ve all seen great shows go down the drain based on these numbers alone. That said, Smallville is consistantly my defalt “it’s so bad I watch it anyway” show. It really is the butt of a lot of my TV watching jokes. None the less, I still love me some Clark Kent.
I was tuned in last night but one of the major reasons for such a lull in the numbers probably has something to do with the fact that I didn’t even remember it was coming back this week until about an hour before it aired and that was only thanks to all the Smallville fans I follow on Twitter. Maybe we can put this into perspective with the over 5 million that Leverage pulled this week on a CABLE NETWORK.
I really hope Smallville..er the CW puts in the time and work needed to hype up the two hour Absolute Justice event coming next Friday. That is going to be must see television even if they ramped into it with another lame Ollie storyline. Should we be used to this by now? It’s shocking, I know, but people don’t watch Smallville for the story of the Green Arrow. And what the hell is up with him all the sudden being hardcore emo over Lois? Chloe was right. It was years ago. She’s got a whole new hair colour now.
I will give them two thumbs up for finally letting us enjoy the chemistry that Durance and Welling have together. Everyone always talked about how great Kreuk and Welling were together but I just never saw it.
Urg, friggin’ Internet failure for a few days, and while DB is off gallivanting around Southwestern Ontario! Anyway, I’m back up and ‘Netified now, so here’s a… less-topical-than-intended post!
As I found while rewatching 24 this past year, I’ve found my feelings about various facets of the show have changed. With this Day 8 I’m finding my viewing habits have changed even further, with regards to the dreaded subplots. The real-time nature of the show means that it just isn’t feasible to have Jack and/or the President doing something all the time, so many various subplots are hatched to a) fill out the show and b) give the tertiary characters something to do (other than getting knocked out/killed by Bauer).
Through the rewatching I found that some of the worst of the subplots (Teri’s amnesia, everything that happened with Kim during Day 2), which were frustratingly lame when was first put through them had become pretty enjoyable due to the sheer what-the-fuckness of it all. Kim’s s2 arc (if it can be called that) is amazing to watch once you know everything that will happen to her.
But with Day 8, I’ve found I’m having this feeling towards the subplots as I watch them for the first time, which is new. Usually they’re a bit on the irritating side, and frustrating in their lack of Bauer killing people with his thighs. This season we’ve got Starbuck dealing with her cockbag of an ex, just out of prison and threatening to expose her Secret Identity. From the illogic of him being able to break her fake ID when the US government couldn’t, to the hilarity of Cockbag’s Friend hanging out on her couch and impassively watching him smack her ’round a bit, I’m digging it.
I’m not sure if my tastes as a 24 viewer changed during the break since season six (because as I’m sure I mentioned before, season seven never really had any of the annoying subplotness I usually expect from 24), or if they’ve just honed their subplot crafting abilities. Either way I win!
Still can’t wait to see Cockbag/Starbuck/both die, though.
This week, while driving Jerk home, we had a talk about how to bring something fresh to the blog and with award season upon us we thought why not have one of our own? So I present to you the very first JerkDoubleBitch Best Ness Of the Week!
Around mid week I was positive my Best Ness of the Week was going to be Hardison hiding cash money in his painting of Old Nate or maybe wearing a hockey mask while he drilled holes in Nate’s walls, or should we say his walls since he is the landlord…but when I saw Supernatural there was no debating what the Best Ness would be.
Without further adue I present “Crazy Dean Loves Pudding”
So after getting Bauer out of the way, I’ve been working on catching up on the other shows that have aired this week. Tonight I watched Castle, and while I did really enjoy the episode (and the return of the Beckett’s Mom storyline) I do feel like something has to be said. This guy?
Maybe not the most realistic character. I mean, running an actual worldwide organization has to eat up a lot of time, and when it’s the front for a drug cartel too? You’ve got all the work of running two different organizations, as well as the extra work involved in making sure the one side of your business stays hidden. Throw in being a contract killer and man, when does he sleep?
As J/DB’s resident… okay, there needs to be a cute name 24 fans use to refer to themselves. Anyway, as the resident that, I’m here to talk about Day 8. So, uh… it’s good. Really good!
The new characters are good, I’m frankly astonished by how much I like Freddie Prinze, Jr. here. It’s like they took Chase and Tony and merged them. The new head of CTU is a bit of a douche, but he’s a competent, likable douche a-la George Mason, and not a GOD WHY ARE YOU NOT DEAD YOU KNOW WHAT I’M GLAD YOUR KID DIED douche a-la Erin Driscoll. Starbuck having a secret other past (that the screening for working at CTU didn’t catch, yet somehow Dick Just Out Of Prison could find her) is pretty lame, but you have to accept that there will be bullshit with the minor characters to fill in the times when Jack is on the toilet or stuck in traffic. But the clear winner of the Best New Character is President Hassan. I mean, that hair alone! But add to that the fact he’s basically a Middle Eastern David Palmer, who actually actively helps CTU advance their investigation, and well, that’s a pretty great character.
It’s quite nice to see the terrorists actually failing pretty early on, instead of having layer after layer of backup plans (s’up, Day 4?), but I think my favourite change is that Jack is actually happy and getting along with Kim. When we first see him, he’s having a nap whilst babysitting his granddaughter. Then 50 minutes later he kills a dude with a friggin’ AXE TO THE HEART and another with a stairwell, and it’s a perfectly natural progression.
Speaking of natural progression, I really love that Renee is now Jack from season two. She no longer works for the government, but she’s called back in because some undercover work she did years ago ties in to the terrorist’s plot, and she has to go back undercover. There’s a nuclear material involved, and the first suspect she comes across gets part of him sawed off. If they’d thrown in a scene where she shaved off her hobo beard it would have been exactly like Jack in the season two premiere! At least Renee managed to keep her guy alive, and not a head in a duffel bag.
Also, holy crap are they stuffing this season with awesome actors! Herc from The Wire! Sark! Leoben! And we’re only four hours in. Okay, I think that pretty much covers my geeky rantings for now, conclusion: 24 is still very much alive, and I’m glad it got the ratings it deserves.
Now that I’ve had a few days to really take in the double episode ‘event’ I feel like I could probably write three posts about it. First off I think we should talk about the feel of the ‘event’. As much as I love Welling’s directing I think it was a mistake to have two directors split the episode. It was so clear that things changed halfway through. Welling is known for his love of light and big sweeping shots, lots of super closeups (especially of himself) and his use of color. As soon as the halfway point breaking scene came in you could feel the difference. We got straight on shots of the heroes and way too much light and conversely the scenes towards the end we saw way too much dark and three quarter profiles that left me wondering why they were there, what were they signifying?
One thing Smallville has to get down on its knees and grovel to Johns over is the fact that he so clearly walked in the door and set them up for the entirety of season 10. We’ve seen such a warble lately. The show was missing the big bad or they had great big bads and then they kill them in like two episodes. Then we’re left with Ollie’s past and that one where Lois gets knocked out and does some stuff. I think they’ve majorly failed with Zod this year. They’ve done so much better with him in the past. There were some great episodes this season giving some background on Krypton but he doesn’t scare me. I’m glad to see checkmate and maybe they’ll do something good with Tess Mercer again. Still proud of her.
First up, a look at the basics: Human Target is an amazingly fast-paced action adventure romp of a show with a definite sense of humour. The three main characters (all of whom are awesome, but Jackie Earle Haley especially stands out for me, and not just because he was Rorschach.) are something of a mercenary/spy/awesome group who will help those in need, in exchange for… a favour, an heriloom, basically whatever Christopher Chance decides to take for payment. So far each of the cases has been drastically different from each other, which I’m hoping speaks well for the series’ longevity. Also, having Bear McCreary score your show is always a good move.
If Eli Stone had a time machine would he still be here today?
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy this show and I wish it had got a longer run, mostly so I could see Victor Garber on my screen more often (though he has popped up on none other than Glee) but while I do believe today’s conditions are more favorable for a show of this type, I think their flavor was maybe just too much for prime time to handle – in concept. So many people, and networks dismiss shows on concept alone and never give them the chance to blossom. This is why we have to watch 2 hours of the biggest loser every week.
The show is missing even a hint of the tongue-in-cheek, campy comedy that made Hercules and Xena so good. Everything is played very very serious, and… it’s boring. There’s no character, no voice to the show outside of the visuals. There’s very much the potential for an amazing show here, but someone needed to inject some life into it. I’m gonna go ahead and blame DeKnight for this, saying as he wrote both of the first two episodes.
As I found while rewatching 24 this past year, I’ve found my feelings about various facets of the show have changed. With this Day 8 I’m finding my viewing habits have changed even further, with regards to the dreaded subplots. The real-time nature of the show means that it just isn’t feasible to have Jack and/or the President doing something all the time, so many various subplots are hatched to a) fill out the show and b) give the tertiary characters something to do (other than getting knocked out/killed by Bauer).
But with Day 8, I’ve found I’m having this feeling towards the subplots as I watch them for the first time, which is new. Usually they’re a bit on the irritating side, and frustrating in their lack of Bauer killing people with his thighs. This season we’ve got Starbuck dealing with her cockbag of an ex, just out of prison and threatening to expose her 
Maybe not the most realistic character. I mean, running an actual worldwide organization has to eat up a lot of time, and when it’s the front for a drug cartel too? You’ve got all the work of running two different organizations, as well as the extra work involved in making sure the one side of your business stays hidden. Throw in being a contract killer and man, when does he sleep?
The new characters are good, I’m frankly astonished by how much I like Freddie Prinze, Jr. here. It’s like they took Chase and Tony and merged them. The new head of CTU is a bit of a douche, but he’s a competent, likable douche a-la George Mason, and not a GOD WHY ARE YOU NOT DEAD YOU KNOW WHAT I’M GLAD YOUR KID DIED douche a-la Erin Driscoll. Starbuck having a secret other past (that the screening for working at CTU didn’t catch, yet somehow Dick Just Out Of Prison could find her) is pretty lame, but you have to accept that there will be bullshit with the minor characters to fill in the times when Jack is on the toilet or stuck in traffic. But the clear winner of the Best New Character 
is President Hassan. I mean, that hair alone! But add to that the fact he’s basically a Middle Eastern David Palmer, who actually actively helps CTU advance their investigation, and well, that’s a pretty great character.
suspect she comes across gets part of him sawed off. If they’d thrown in a scene where she shaved off her hobo beard it would have been exactly like Jack in the season two premiere! At least Renee managed to keep her guy alive, and not a head in a duffel bag.
