Wednesday, October 22, 2008

TV Questions?

I watch a lot of TV. I've posted on many of the shows in the past, but I feel like I have some issues with the current crop of TV, which strangely includes very few new shows, though I prefer the new ones.

First, Heroes was such a great show. It's first season was amazing, changing the culture a bit ("save the cheerleader, save the world") and impressing all TV audiences. The second season was a huge letdown, with poor story development, too many new characters and no solid villain. This third season shows much more of the original creativity and story lines, but I'm still confused. The story seems to focus on finding a formula that would give all people "hero" qualities, but I don't understand who has it, who wants it and why all the people who have met before don't seem to know each other any more. I'm just confused, but it looked like this week built up enough steam to give us some answers soon.

Chuck which I loved last season has also upset a few things with some strange small story changes that confuse me too. I don't get why certain people are fighting and why Chuck is still involved. Still good, but not better.

I love Samanth Who? but the story arc she was using last season about understanding who she was before her accident seems to be done, and they're just trying to move forward. But she's bland and boring now with little funniness about why she's different now.

House has been playing very strange stories. House's dad dies and we find out he was not really his father. Wilson finally returned, but I still don't get his story much either - his girlfriend died, House was to blame, but it's not really coming across well, though they repeat it constantly! New stories would be helpful.

Numb3rs appeals to my super nerdy nature, but by disrupting the character dynamic moving Charlie into LAPD instead of the FBI made little sense. Why would the higher ups be against Don, and why do they think all people will turn in their boss? Very strange plot points, go back to the numbers people.

Other returning shows that just aren't performing well, but I have no good reason include: Private Practice, Pushing Daisies, CSI: Miami, and The Office. Not up to par, but not terrible.

Great Standouts this season that have higher than expected quality so far include CSI (Las Vegas), The Mentalist, Boston Legal, Fringe, Eli Stone, Bones and surprisingly ER. Comments and ideas for shows I should give up and what I can replace them with are much appreciated!

Large Association of Movie Blogs

4 comments:

David Bishop said...

I'm one of the few people who enjoyed the second season of Heroes, but I got into it after hearing all the complaints. Perhaps I can just chalk that up to low expectations. I can say one thing that made Season Two quite reasonable for me, very little Nikki.

I too feel a little funny with this new season, but it has less to do with confusion. I'm feeling quite irked by some of the choices these characters are making. In the first episode, we had a very prideful Hiro essentially set into motion the end of the world. Not too long after his trip back from the future, his whole distrust of Ando was also really annoying coming from a character I really loved. Similarly with Peter and Dr. Suresh, I'm just not comfortable seeing these 'heroes' make so many gray, sometimes completely dark choices.

The only other show I watch that you listed is The Office. I too feel that there are some weird things going on. I don't like that there's so little of Pam for one. I'm loving Holly though.

Julie said...

Busy catching up on House this weekend, and I just saw the scene with House and Wilson fighting after his dad's funeral. Found it very uncompelling and definitely agree with you that that plot line is not being done well.

On the other hand, we're still loving The Office.

Anonymous said...

I agree The Office is standing up to expectations. I thought two episodes were darn funny, but the others are just bleh.

If you've got HBO, you should check out True Blood, it's hit and miss too, but it's better than the let downs you mentioned. Also on HBO, Generation Kill is worth a viewing.

Reel Whore said...

Yeah, I'm not feeling Heroes much this season. I like the recent inclusion of the dad, but still too many xters and nothing great to latch onto. It also blows that Hiro was acting veryun-Hiro for a while.

My fave show is still Bones, hands down. Solid characters with great chemistry and involving stories.