TV roundup

So I was going to write a larger post on how disappointed I am in Heroes. Mostly, the same as my last review of Heroes but I’m annoyed enough to write it again. Then I read sfsignal’s review of season 2 which pretty much covered what I was going to say, but better. I just want to point out that the plot requires every Hero to more or less behave like a complete idiot in order to move forward - I think that this is a combination of bad writing, too many characters so that there’s not enough time to develop real motivation and the show simply meandering around without any focus. The ratings have been at series lows for Heroes and I’m thankful for that - bad shows shouldn’t be rewarded.

So now it’s a recap of the other genre shows I’m watching… so..

Bionic Woman. It’s ok. It’s a disappointment mostly in how average it is. It isn’t bad, but it never really gets great. Heroes has it’s moments when it’s just awesome. Sure they’re few and far between but it goes there. Bionic Woman never really does - it’s just fairly ok the whole way through, it never gets bad, it’s pretty coherenent and reasonable show. The whole show has no emotional hold, the characters are very isolated and kinda boring. I think Sarah Corvus has the most interesting sub-plot, and I’m not just saying that because I’m a BSG fan boy, even though I am. Her character seems to have the most depth and is the most genuinely interesting of the lot of ‘em. I’m still watching, but if I miss an ep, I’m not crying about it.

Chuck? No. ‘Nuff said. Seriously.

Reaper, I just wrote a thing on Reaper which holds true. The most recent episode didn’t live up to the promise I left off on that last one, but it was definitely better than the avg Reaper. It had a lot of promise when it opened with the capturing of the soul - in general it strayed from the formula we’ve been seeing. It still didn’t have much depth - but I believe the show is focusing more on comedy than drama so it may be safe to say we aren’t going to be getting a lot of meat to hang on to. Which is fine - the acting and dialogue on the show is great if they can simply mix things up enough from week to week I’ll be completely entertained. If they turned it into the Ray Wise/Tyler Labine show, I wouldn’t complain. :)

But you want to know the strange thing? My favourite show of the season? Avatar. In it’s third season, Nickelodeon has qualitatively changed the show - I loved the first two seasons they were complex, interesting, funny with a backstory that was huge without being overwhelming *cough*lost*cough*. Nickelodeon, decided the put a lot of effort into turning Avatar into a brand and this third season, too long in the coming, is a much more mature show. Which isn’t necessarily better - but they do a good job. It’s a little in your face with it’s drawing parallels between two opposing characters and it’s a little ham fisted in putting the characters into situations that teens and pre-teens might find themselves in, but it still has tight writing and great characters. I completely enjoy it and unlike the other shows this season, I honestly can’t wait till the next one airs.

So there you have it. All the network shows get a big meh, at best. I guess I’ll have to wait for BSG to start to see some good live action television. Oh. And Dollhouse. Just in case you missed that. What are you watching? What do you like and I guess since this is the cybernet, what do you hate?

Nov 3rd, 2007 · Comments RSS · · · · · Tags: review · tv