TV Roundup: True Blood and Terminator

So it’s TV season again. At this point, aside from any terrible reality programming, I’m only watching True Blood and The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I’m not watching Fringe although I’m told that I should probably give it more than the 2 minute chance I gave it. Eh, we’ll see. I’m also kind of upset that Chuck got picked up and Bionic Woman didn’t. Not that either were good, but Chuck was a genuinely bad show where Bionic Woman had the seeds to become really interesting.

Oh well, but what I’m pretty excited about is True Blood, first two eps out and I went from being curious but skeptical from what little I knew about the show before it started to being really into it. I’m not the only one, either, it’s already been picked up for a second season.

First up, I think it’s a very interesting take on vampires in general. It doesn’t really seem overly derivative in tone or feel from most other monster shows, which I like. The acting is top notch (which I believe is pretty unusual for a vampire show) and thus far it’s been really great to watch. The characters are believable and the stories well done. I wonder, though, if the show is about to change – the previews for next weeks ep seem a lot more actiony than has been the case so far. I guess we’ll see!

Terminator’s been pretty ok this season. It just isn’t a great show, but it’s easily good enough to watch and enjoy. I mean, I guess it’s tough to make a great show when your two main actors (mom and son) can’t pull off their roles and come across as whiny and annoying. This episode felt pretty odd and all of a sudden, like the writers have a lot of story to cover and couldn’t spare any time developing some of their characters. Like sending John to school and him all of a sudden being best friends with that girl. Uh, where did that come from?

And Summer continues to be the bright spot of that show, both in terms of her acting as well as the writing she gets. I think my favourite part of the show was when she was mopping while Sarah’s asking her something and she’s ignoring her, finally when she looks up she says,”I’m thinking about what to do.” Which so worked for me with her burgeoning maybe-love of John.

Ah well. I also started watching the first season of Mad Men, watched a few eps so far, which I like. But I think I’m the only one who isn’t enthralled by it. Not sure why. Oh! And Entourage, I still love that show, I think the premier was great but lost something in the second ep. Still I like the burgeoning conflict between E and Vince. Plus the cameo of Marky Mark. Heh! Anyhoo, you been watching stuff? Anything I’m missing?

OMG. Please also note that there is a Viking Quest flash game!!

poyla

Kill your television.
(shouldn't you be playing Spore? BAD planet taker over...er)
felix

Mike 2.0, you're not missing a ton by not watching Terminator - but it's not a bad show. Worth watching if you've got 40 minutes to kill. :) I'm probably going to wait on Fringe, let a season go by, see if the consensus said it was awesome and watch it if I missed something. I watch enough tv as it is!

Yeah, I love How I Met Your Mother - need to add it to the DVR (new to me!). I worry, though, that it's starting to get to that point that long running sitcoms get to where it becomes more serious and dramatic than funny (I think Seinfeld was the only show to sidestep this...). But it's really a great cast of characters.
felix

Huh, yeah, True Blood has some characters who are a little extreme. Somehow, though, it doesn't bother me, I think they act well enough that I believe that they're just quirky that way. And come on, the brother's funny! The two leads do an excellent job on the show.

I stopped watching after the first ep with the face melting on the plane. Probably wasn't overly fair of me. :)
Michael Natale

I have Terminator DVR'd but I never get around to watching it, I don't know why. I've seen a couple eps and like what I see - and of course Summer Glau could stand there and recite the alphabet and I'd watch. I keep hearing good things about the show though so I'll have to check it out.

I did catch Fringe, and I thought it was pretty good. If you like hard science in your sci-fi, be forewarned. I am not one of those guys who must fact check everything I see on TV and I'm not smart enough to get through a Neal Stephenson novel. So if I can call BS on the science in a show, you know its pretty lame. But if you push the "I Believe" button and just take it for what it is, the story and characters are decent and it looks like its got some potential to become great.

The only other thing I've been obsessed with lately is "How I Met Your Mother". After seeing Dr. Horrible I wanted to see what Neil Patrick Harris was up to on TV and so I got my hands on Season 1 and quickly became obsessed. His character and the way he plays him is hilarious but by no means does he carry the show. Its one of the few situation comedies that can actually make me laugh out loud.
S-Way

I also find Terminator easy to watch, even though the acting can be lacking. And I liked the second ep of True Blood better than the first, though I still think some of the secondary characters are a bit over-the-top. I'm interested to see what happens in the next episode.

I tried watching the second episode of Fringe this week (missed the first one due to a DVR problem.) They lost me when the "science" of the plot became completely ludicrous. They were able to recover the last image seen by a dead person, because the person had been paralyzed by muscle relaxants so the image/electrical impulses hadn't made it through the retina and into the brain. Yeah, right. So they plugged in some sort of wire and translated the optic nerve's latent electronic impulse into a form a computer could understand and display? Um... I actually don't know if they made this thing work because I had already turned off the show. Too dumb.

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