Survivor: GuatemalaI used to be a big
Survivor fan..but after All-Stars, I found my interest has kind of waned a bit. But I guess I gave into the CBS relenteless marketing of this week's episode during the Titans game this week because I found myself tuning in--if only to see who the two speicial deluxe
Survivor players would be. Honestly, I was sort of hoping we'd get Rupert back as outside of Rudy he's my favorite Survivor ever. But instead we got Stephanie and Bobby Jo...wait a minute..Bobby Jo?!? Was he even memorable last time? I mean, I only saw a couple of episodes, but was this guy in any way worth bringing back again?!? Stephanie I can see bringing back as she was plucky, resourceful and you couldn't help but root for her as the underdog, stuck on a team that lost every freakin' immunity challenge they ever competed in. But Bobby Jo?!?
Also, my first thought on seeing them--who has a job where you can take 70 plus days a year off and still have one?!?
Anyway, enough of that...it's first episode which means that we're introduced to a whole lot of people who we're never going to see again after the first month of the show. It was weird to have Stephanie there as at least we kind of knew who she was from the get go and I admit it--I rooted for her team to win that first immunity challenge just so the girl doesn't have more of a complex than she already must have . Meanwhile, Bobby Jo's tribe wins the super deluxe camp of doom but yet all the men are sick as dogs. Yes, that's lovely to see on TV. Thank you Mark Burnett for all the lovely scenes of them all wretching and losing what little lunch they'd had. You know, you have to think it was good that they had a nurse on their team. Also, Blake gets poked by a vicious tree with needles and goes down hard. Makes me wonder if he got some kind of poisoning that will affect his health in days to come. And boy howdy, did that team have a lot of bad luck--men getting sick, Jim tearing his muscles. It makes me wonder at what point the medical staff of the show is going to be forced to step in. I mean, back in Australia, Michael feel into the fire and they were on set pretty quick.
Anyway, not sure if this will be must see for me or not...James Marsters will be guesting on
Smallville this year in the same time slot and not matter how much I try or say I should, I just can't break up with
Alias...
Prison Break: Cute PoisonFour weeks in and already the plotholes in this one are beginning to show. At least on
24 and
Alias it takes at least five or so episodes before I'm shaking my head and going, "No, but seriously...come on!"
So what was the point of moving the original cell mate (the one with the girlfriend who is being manipulated by Hector to dump the con and hook up with him) to move in crazy new guy who doesn't sleep only to move him out again? Seems to me like this is a plot of a contrivance to create some suspense to the plot early becuase how much fun would it to be to see Michael loosening the cinder block behind the sink for a week or two? Answer: probaby not as much.
Also, I have to wonder--how exactly does time pass on this show. In the scenes in prison, you get a feeling that only a day or so is passing per story, but then outside it feels as if more time has passed. The problem is the premise of this one is built around the fact that we have a limited amount of time to break the brother out of prison and I've got to assume that as we get closer to time, the security around him will get tighter. Also, I've got to wonder this--so the brother is allegedly innocent. But Michael is apparently very guilty of what he did as are the rest of this crew he's assembling for the great prison break. What are these guys going to do when they get out? I can assume that Michael and the brother will be exonerated but that does nothing for the rest of the crew, some of whom aren't exactly the nicest people around. I'm just saying that having these guys out on the street again doesn't seem like the best idea I've ever heard. But I am guessing for Michael that the ends justify the means.
And can I ask this--does anyone really care what happens in the Robin Tunney plotlines? I have to admit I was a bit shocked that she seemed to feel nothing about calling off her wedding last week. I'd hope that if someone was going to marry me and we called it off close to the date she might be a little more affected than Tunney's character was here. But a day or two later, it's like it never happened...
House: AcceptanceOut of the gate last year, this was one heck of a show. But, man it hit a stride about mid-season and never looked back. This year you add Sela Ward to the cast and it just continues to get better.
House takes the case of a death row inmate whose heart was beating too rapidly and has a condition that could kill him before the state can. Meanwhile, Cameron treats a woman who has come into the clinic and probably only has six months to live because of cancer. I loved the point and counterpoint of the two cases. Cameron feels more compassion for the woman who will die alone of cancer and feels that House should focus his energy there instead of on the death row inmate. It's interesting to see how detached House is from both...he is more interested in solving the mystery than looking at the circumstances of why each person is sick or should be given care. He tells Cameron the woman is dying and that she should break the news and move on instead of giving the patient false hope. Meanwhile, he continues to puzzle over why the inmate would have such periods of blind rage that he'd kill four people. In the end, we find out that due to surges of adrenaline in the system, the inmate had these blind rages. And in the end, House says that will it was a medical condition, it is something that people learn to live with and it doesn't excuse the four killings. It explains them but he also points out the patient could have some control over this as others do.
Interesting debate and not one with easy answers. Nor does the show necessarily volunteer any. Again, I find it interesting that we had the characters created as they were--the death row inmate is a young African American man and the woman is a young white woman. And in the end, they will both die alone since neither have families who will be there for them in the final hours. And that may be the real tragedy of both circumstances--no one will really notice or mourn the passing of these two people from the planet.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 9/16/2005 08:48:00 AM |
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