TV: September 2007 Archives

I'm slowly catching up on the stuff I wasn't able to watch during the week. The series premier for Moonlight just happened to be one of them.

Moonlight is a new series in which the main character, Mick St. John ( Alex O'Loughlin ), is not only a crime-solving detective, but a vampire as well. You can forget everything that you already know about vampires. He isn't scared of crucifixes or garlic. He doesn't sleep in a coffin. Instead he sleeps in a freezer. And it's not one like you might store your spare t-bones in.

He doesn't need to hunt young women in their sleep or prowl the night in search of fresh blood. He gets his from his own supplier. Although, other myths remain true. While he can roam about during the night, sunlight is something that sucks the power from him. He can heal himself as most vampires do recover from their injuries. He does have super-human strength and will most likely kick your ass if you piss him off enough. The only thing that will destroy him is separating his head from his body or fire.

Sophia Myles plays Beth Turner, the meddling reporter / web-caster. She has the right mix of good looks, curiosity and pushiness to get the scoop. Oh, and did I mention she's kinda hot too? It seems like her and Mick are gonna be paired up a bit as the two try to solve crimes. It's quite natural for them to end up together. He saved her a long time ago when she was a child from another vampire. The premiere leaves you wondering if Mick's "real" identity is going to be revealed to her or not as we see history repeating itself when he saves her from the killer they are after.

Last fall I suggested that mainstream audiences might not be ready for a show like Heroes. Boy was I wrong. I'm almost tempted to say the same thing about Moonlight. I like the show and I'd like to see more of it. It's something fresh, something new, and as Mick says, "Vampires are coming back into fashion." But, will mainstream viewers accept it and like it as much as me? I don't think having the premier on Friday night is going to really help it's success. Time will tell.

How about you? Do you think it will last?

What do you do when you are a cop accused of a crime you didn't commit and imprisoned unjustly? Charlie Crews ( Damian Lewis ) is that cop in the new series, Life.

He could have gone insane being locked up in solitary. He could have wallowed in a pool of self-pity. Instead, he decided to read about Zen. When he was finally exonerated for a crime he didn't commit, he walked away from prison and back into crime with a shiny, new detective's shield as well as a truckload of money as compensation.

You might think that Charlie, being the recipient of enough money to buy a super-expensive sportscar, mansion, and a big, red tractor, wouldn't have any desire to go back to the thankless job of law enforcement. You might even believe that he harbors resentment and hostility toward his brothers in blue. I'm quite comfortable in saying that it is probably there, just below the surface. But Charlie isn't going to let us know. He now lives in the moment.

There's also little doubt that he's looked upon by other cops as an outsider. To them, regardless of his innocence being proven beyond the reasonable doubt, he's still a convict. Dani Reese ( Sarah Shahi ), is the one unlucky enough to be his partner. She didn't want the job, but being at the bottom of the list has it's drawbacks. She's had her troubles with drug and alcohol abuse, but is "working the program." By the end of the first episode we see that although she may resent being Charlie's partner, an unlikely alliance has already been forged between them.

This is the one premier that I was really looking forward to. I won't say that I was disappointed. Charlie is a little quirkier than I expected he would be. But, I suppose years in prison will do that to a guy? If you believe you've seen Damian Lewis before, that's most likely because of his compelling role as Major Richard D. Winters in the production, Band of Brothers. This is one series I plan on recording so that I don't miss an episode. I fully expect that we'll see his character's intensity grow as the story progresses and he digs deeper into the search for those responsible for his unjust incarceration.

Did you watch it? Is this one on your, "must see" list?

I love this time of the year because it's great for giving me content for my site. I caught the premiers last night on NBC for Chuck, Heroes and Journeyman. I'm already a dedicated Heroes fan and I'm always looking for new shows to record since I'm home intermittently through the evenings. So, here's my thoughts about the premiers last night. I must admit, Chuck has a bit of an endearing quality about the show. The main character, Chuck, an underachieving Stanford grad, played by Zachary Levi, is sent an email that contains sensitive, government intelligence encoded in images. After reading the email the information is contained in his brain and only seems to seep out from time to time. Governmental agencies, such as the CIA and the NSA, are hot on the trail of the data and track it down to Chuck, the lowly fix-it geek at a local big-box, discount knock-off of Best Buy or Circuit City. For the time being, Chuck will be babysat by two agents: John Casey ( Adam Baldwin ) and Sarah Walker ( Yvonne Strahovski ). I only got to watch Chuck in bits and pieces. From what I did get to see, it seems like the type of show that I could easily enjoy. The "unlikely hero" storyline has so many possibilities that it should make for interesting plotlines. My only criticism, and I chose to do this sparingly since I haven't watched the entire episode yet, is that I hope Chuck will grow rather than being a stereotypical, shy and reserved, underachieving caricature. I imagine this will happen, but once it does will the show jump the shark? We'll see what happens. Luckily I recorded it so I can watch the whole episode, uninterrupted, later this week.

Heroes came out the gate this year and ended the premier as it usually does - with plenty of new questions and cliffhangers compelling us to watch next week. There's a few new characters as the primary ones are getting on with their lives. Claire's family tries to pick up the pieces and start their lives in a new place. Of course, Claire being a teenager, has a hard time doing this without calling attention to herself. Meanwhile, her dad plots to bring down the company with Mohinder's help while he lays down the law at his new job. Hiro has a new quest in ancient japan. The whole deal going on with Nathan and Peter has me stumped as to what's going on. Two new characters, a brother and sister from Mexico, are on their way to New York to get help. Evidently the sister, Maya, has some incredible power that is exceptionally deadly. I think this season of Heroes is going to be a good one.

Originally, I was a little skeptical of Journeyman. I'm still kind of sitting on the fence as to whether it will stick around or not. I like the whole idea behind the story. Kevin McKidd stars as Dan Vasser, a San Francisco reporter who begins to mysteriously travel through time. Yes. It just happens. It's as if some kind of portal opens up and only swallows him, transporting him to various points in time. It seems he has to set things right before he can break free from the force that keeps transporting him. Of course this plays havoc with his real life because in this story, when he goes back to 1987, for example, he's gone for nearly two days in his real life. This leaves a lot of explaining to do since he previously had problems with substance abuse. But that's what makes this character so cool. He's flawed. He's not some super-cool, techno-geek that builds a time machine and travels by choice. It's another flawed, yet endearing, unlikely hero here to save the day.

Any thoughts from you? Have a favorite?

I didn't get to watch the whole thing this season, but I did catch a few episodes. Most importantly I was able to catch the finale tonight of Last Comic Standing. A fantastically hilarious guy by the name of Jon Reep won. You might recognize him from a few things on TV. You might remember him from the Dodge commercials. His line was, "That thing got a hemi?"

I've been recording and watching the series, Murder, lately on SpikeTV. When I first saw it coming, I imagined it might have a chance of being a relatively interesting show. It's set up like most "reality" shows. Two teams of three people compete to solve actual crimes previously solved by real detectives. The crime scenes are portrayed just as they were when police arrived on the scene - with bodies, evidence and all the accompanying gore.

The teams, consisting of people from all walks of life, are expected to collect the evidence, develop theories, and solve the crime by presenting their theories to a real Texas detective. As with so many of the reality shows, there is plenty of drama to go around when personalities clash. No two people ever have the same perceptions and when theories collide, so do people.

Just like several million other people, I enjoy watching CSI and other crime dramas. These shows demonstrate that crimes can be solved so easily when in actuality it isn't quite as easy as it looks. It is kind of fun to watch some of these contestants fumble around and get their ass chewed a little bit when Tommy LeNoir, the Texas detective, points out their mistakes.

Aside from a few things like the limited amount of time they are given to collect evidence from the crime scene, the limited information they have to start out with and the melodramatics when they disagree, it's not a bad show. To be honest, it is kind of interesting to see if you can solve the crime before they do. The only problem is that I have all kinds of questions I think they should be asking - and they don't. For example, in the last episode one of the suspects, a convicted felon who was seen in the vicinity of the crime scene, had an alibi. But both teams never asked if his alibi checked out. What's more, the detective never said if it did or not. It's hard to rule suspects out when you don't have all the information. I'll keep watching though.

Have you watched it? What do you think?

Since I'm a big fan of several TV shows ( I know it rots the brain, but at this point what have I to lose? ) I look forward to the new fall season. I have a lot of fun watching the shows' pilots and writing reviews. Last year I even tried to pick the one's I thought would stick around. I didn't do too bad. I'm going to try and do the same thing this year. With the new season coming up here's what the big three networks have in store for us - as far as new shows are concerned. I don't watch a lot on Fox so I'll probably catch up on that one later. Of course, I'm not going to make any predictions until I get a chance to watch the first episode, but some do have promise as far as I'm concerned.

CBS

• Big Bang Theory - 9/24 - Looks like this one will feature two geeks and their endless pursuit of women. I can relate to that.
• Cane - 9/25 - Features Jimmy Smits as the heir to a sugarcane empire. I don't know. Maybe. Jimmy Smits is cool and all, but this one doesn't leap out and grab me.
• Kid Nation - 9/19 - Yet another "reality" series where kids run the world. Isn't that the way it is anyway?
• Moonlight - 9/28 - So a guy who is a vampire and about a century old solves crimes on a weekly basis. Hmmm . . . that's something new, I might check that one out.
• Viva Laughlin - 10/21 - Some guy opens a casino in Laughlin Nevada in pursuit of the American Dream. I don't know - not extraordinarily compelling.

NBC

• Chuck - 9/24 - An average, everyday computer geek is a government agent by night. This just might have a chance if it doesn't rely on too many stereotypes.
• Life - 9/26 - This one, I'm looking forward to. Damian Lewis plays a cop that was sent to prison for life, learns Zen, and is then released due to his innocence and becomes a cop again with a different view on life. This guy was great in the miniseries, Band of Brothers. I have high expectations.
• Journeyman - 9/24 - So a guy travels through time and changes people's lives while the whole time attempting to explain to his wife ( and others I assume ) why he didn't come home last night. Been there, done that - just kidding. This one has little appeal to me.
• Bionic Woman - 9/26 - While I'm sure the cool new special effects will really do well resurrecting a show I used to watch as a kid, I have to ask, "Can't we make new stuff instead of trying to breathe new life into what was a lame series in the past?"

ABC

• Samantha Who - 10/15 - A woman gets hit by a car, ends up in a coma and wakes up 8 days later with no memory of her past and has to start over again. I like the idea. I'll probably tune in.
• Cavemen - 10/2 - Please tell me this isn't true. A television series based on a TV commercial? What's next? A series in which the main character provides comic relief by uttering, "AFLAC!!" every 5 minutes?
• Carpoolers - 10/2 - Four guys carpool together everyday and talk about their lives, dreams, families, etc . . . I can't help but wonder if this show's foundation is much like Seinfeld - a show about nothing. Could end up being pretty funny if it's done well.
• Pushing Daisies - 10/3 - A guy who not only makes great pie can bring dead people to life for a short period of time and helps a private investigator solve crimes. Oooooooooooo K.
• Private Practice - 9/26 - Grey's Anatomy. Different people. I didn't watch Grey's Anatomy. No more to say.
• Dirty Sexy Money - 9/26 - Yet another lawyer show about a lawyer who caters to wealthy people. We have enough lawyers in real life.
• Big Shots - 9/27 - A bunch of CEOs hang out at the country club and whine about their tough lives and count their gold. Art imitating life? No thanks, I can read the news and see this kind of crap.
• Women's Murder Club - 10/12 - A woman assembles a team of expert women to climb to the top of the crime solving club. Whatever. Not my cup of tea.
• Cashmere Mafia - 11/07 - Executive women struggle through their day to day lives trying to tough it out in the corporate world. Can't relate unless I see boobs. But this isn't cable so change the channel.
• Eli Stone - Mid Season - A cut-throat lawyer decides to seek his spirituality by answering to a higher calling. The only way this could be believable is if he abandons all his worldly possessions. I can't see a lawyer doing that so I'm skeptical.
• Miss Guided - Mid Season - Her high school past comes back to haunt her when she becomes the guidance counselor. Simple. Could be something there.

Quite a few of them look like they could be of decent substance - hopefully. Since I have all kinds of stuff going on Monday through Thursday I'll do my best to watch and write my reviews. Do you have any thoughts on the upcoming season? Put them in the comments. I'd love to read them. Read my tv reviews.