What’s the Deal With “V” and its critics

I will write more about V in my State of TV article, but with the mid-season finale airing last night I had a couple thoughts on the show and the press it was getting. It all started off great. The first episode was well put together (I think I even watched it three times) and the show got over 14 million viewers (not an easy feat for a new show in today’s tv landscape). It wasn’t universally praised but a lot of TV critics really liked it.

Fast forward to today. It seems the show isn’t so favorable anymore, which I don’t understand. The Live Feed has been saying that it is hemorrhaging viewing (it has lost a bit) and might be canceled and Entertainment Weekly wrote up a small article yesterday trying to compare the show to some football team and basically saying that the show was pretty abysmal.

Lets look at some of the facts…shall we. 14 Million viewers for a season premiere of a new show with no lead in is pretty fantastic. It is no surprise to me that they dropped off after that, a show always drops off in viewers after the premiere. Since then it had ten million viewers and then down to nine million viewers and held tight last night along with the confirmation from ABC itself that the show is coming back in March.

Lets take a look at critical darling Glee for a second. Now I watch Glee but I think like Twilight it gets a bit more hype then it deserves. It premiered with 9.6 million viewers after a little show called American Idol.  As of last week it had 7.4 million viewers. Granted a 5 million drop is a bit more than a 2 million drop but I find it interesting that rumors were going around that the show might be canceled. Any show that can get 9 million viewers against CBS’s NCIS is certainly doing something right.

Maybe EW didn’t realize that V was a remake of the 1983 mini-series but thought V stood for Vampire. That article comparing it to the Trojans and how it doesn’t have any hope is a joke. The pilot was fantastic as was the third episode that revealed plenty of things including the reveal that Lisa was the daughter of V leader Anna. Maybe this just isn’t the cup of tea for Jeff Jensen who also says how much he dislikes the show in his recap last night.

I’m not saying that the show doesn’t have its problems, it does. Nobody cares about Tyler and the tension they had in the first two episodes kind of disappeared but I think the show has a lot of potential. They should have ended last night with a better cliff hanger but it was pretty chilling to see all of those V ships sitting hundreds and thousands of miles away ready to invade.

I’m saying that the show is okay and it has some work to do, but it isn’t about to die like I feel many people want it to.

DVD: Doctor Who Series 1

I think this just might be the most re-watchable show ever. My opinions about the show have changed a lot since my original review way back in 2008. The episodes I didn’t like I now have a newfound respect for and I find myself really liking the work and character development that both Billie Piper and Christopher Eccleston brought to their roles. This series has a very different feel then the second series but I found it charming and wonderful.

I agree with my original statement that I had a bit of a learning curve to deal with. However now watching this series several times I now understand it just so much better than I thought I did. By several times I mean watching it myself, watching it with friends, watching it with different friends, and watching the commentary. I think I’ve seen “Rose” about four or five times now. But it is that good that I could watch it again. You have to get over some of the cheesy dialogue and the so-so special effects at first but again once the series starts rolling and you know where it is headed then you actually start embracing them. You’ll love the Daleks, you’ll love the rubber costumes, heck you’ll go back and rewatch the first episode and love the dialogue. This show is extremely British but that is what I love about it.

Billie Piper did not annoy me at the beginning like last time. I actually saw what she was doing with the role. At the beginning she is just another teenager who isn’t very nice or respectful and obviously is going to ask a bunch of questions and then she turns into a more mature person as it goes along. Her work in “Bad Wolf” and “Parting of Ways” is so well done and you can see how she has grown from the beginning to the end. What a great job.

Same with Christopher Eccleston. He tries to find his feet in the first two episode but by “Unquiet Dead” he knows what he is doing and becomes this funny but brooding Doctor. He plays the role so different from David Tennant yet it is still so believable.

Since I watched this series I have gone on to by all four seasons on DVD (which I am currently going through) as well as the first season of Torchwood and plan on buying the rest of them when I get a bit more money. I also have gone back and watched some of the classic Doctor Who episodes as well. Knowing what is to come and what has already happened makes Rose that much more interesting. The Doctor has a history and Christopher Eccleston shows it. He has a job he is doing and Rose is just some person he met. I think knowing his past and present and how he acts makes the first episode extremely believable because that is what the Doctor will do.

I don’t dislike “The End of the World” and “The Unquiet Dead” anymore. “The End of the World” is actually pretty funny and we learn a bit about the Doctors dual personality of compassion and justice while “The Unquiet Dead” has a brilliant performance by Eve Myles of Torchwood. Heck even the juvenile moments of “Aliens of London” and “World War Three” work because this show is so solid.

I cannot stop gushing about the show, I tell my friends that if you can get through “Dalek” then you are in for a treat because that is when you start realizing the brilliance of the show and going back and watching the first few episodes is almost like a new viewing because you understand the show so much better. I honestly think that is how this show works for people who have never seen Doctor Who. You just don’t get it at first. You don’t understand what the fuss is all about. What a Dalek is a little metal sphere? Why should we be “scared” about them? Oh I guess this kind of works in “Aliens of London.” But if you continue to see the drama, romance, adventure, comedy, and science fiction of it all you have to say to yourself “this show has a little bit of everything.”

I CANNOT WAIT to go back through the second series and eventually watch the third and fourth because I am slowly becoming a Doctor Who Fanatic.

Breaking Bad Season 2 Review

Somehow this got lost in the shuffle of my tv viewing. I had it all recorded on my tivo but wanted to watch the first season before this season….

Anyway another fantastic season of the show and Bryan Cranston definitely deserved his second emmy award for his brilliant work. I just found every episode interesting and fantastic and I loved how they connected it all together with teases of the final few minutes off the last episode. The whole season you were wondering what happened, why is that bear in the pool? Why are there dead bodies? WHAT COULD HAPPEN? I think the whole message was look at how things are connected and the tiniest little thing can end up being a huge problem.

Lets get back to the beginning. I really like how every episode is a slow build yet from the beginning of the season to the end so much has happened. We had three episodes dealing just with Tuco but by the end of the season the show has moved on that none of that really matters.

The Tuco episodes were done masterfully. “Seven-Thirty-Seven” continued to set up where the season 1 finale finished. Tuco is dangerous and he will do basically anything in order to get his money and not go to jail. The second episode of the season that had Jesse and Walt in his desert house was also well done. Any show that can keep its two leads in the same environment for the entire episode and yet  still keep you on the edge of your seat is brilliant. “Grilled” will go down as one of my favorites.

After Tuco the series moves on a bit as Walt and Jesse try to figure out a new way to deal their crystal meth and decide to basically become their own distributors and have their own dealers that report to them. This of course makes Walt fictitious Heisenberg become a bit of an Urban Legend and the name starts getting thrown around in the DEA offices. Plenty of the episodes then deal with their troubles being distributors and not getting the money that they need or dealing with people who have found out about their little side job.

Walt’s cancer goes into remission, at least for now, and he has to think of a way to get the money to his family which opens up a side plot with the sketchy lawyer Saul Goodman. Another side plot has Jesse in a relationship with his co-tennant and landlord Jane. Who after a drug overdose dies causing her father, an air traffic controller, in grief to crash two planes.

That is basically the plot of this season but there are so many other stories. All of the characters become even more developed and you start getting to know them a lot better than you did in the first seasons seven episodes. Skyler has her baby and doesn’t want anything to do with Walt anymore and moves out. Hank ends up getting a better job with the task force which ends up giving him some extra crazy stress after a shooting and explosion in Jaurez.

Once again this show is a chess game and people end up doing things because of others actions. It can be slow but in one sitting so much happens that it doesn’t really matter. It comes down to the character work that Bryan Cranston and the others have. It makes the show so believable especially with such high stakes of drug dealing and murder. It also stays grounded with Walt’s home life and his family. Plenty of times in this season both Jesse and Walt decide that they are done dealing but get roped back in. Either in greed or for other reasons.

The highlight and turning point in the season is “4 Days Out” that has Walt and Jesse in the middle of nowhere cooking as much meth as possible. Walt thinks his cancer has taken a turn for the worse the whole episode and ends up tearing himself apart when he and Jesse end up getting stranded. The two bond and become even closer because of their life threatening experience. At the end though we learn that Walt’s cancer is actually better than they all thought and it changes the tone of the show. His family starts becoming happier and Walt becomes obsessed with working on the house and spending the money he has made.

It is such a hard show to write and talk about but I feel like it is probably going to be one of the most re-watchable. It is entertaining and makes you depressed at the same time. You start really feeling connected to everyone. Also it looks great. Some of the visuals and shots, along with the subtle music really puts the whole show together.

Definitely I would watch the repeats and pick up this show on DVD and I am so unhappy that it took me so long to watch it. This, like Weeds, is candy tv. Once you watch one episode you want another one.

Digimon Tamers

I won’t lie, I think if a children’s show (or movie) is good or you have some nostalgic connection to it than you shouldn’t feel guilty about watching it. Maybe slightly embarrassed but not guilty. I have no qualms watching the Sarah Jane Adventures or Digimon. Yes both are targeted at children but I am pretty sure plenty of 35-year-old hausfraus get their share of iCarly and enjoy it.

Anyway a lot of my children’s show watching stems from watching it as a child. When I was about 11 or 12 the first Digimon season was airing but I kind of didn’t know what time it was on and back then you are bound to be more busy then you are as a college student. Much like Power Rangers I wanted to go back and to watch the series from beginning to end. I liked the first one so much I decided to go through the second season as well and eventually started the third season. Let me say it was not as easy because I didn’t have the connection to it like I did with all three seasons of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the first two seasons of Digimon. I would watch a few episodes and then I would have weeks off. I would watch a few more and then would have weeks off. Well after months of watching it here and there I finally was able to finish it.

This season took a very different approach from the first two. The two original seasons were actually a tv show and a card game that people played in this season. However they were all based on a very old computer program that got out of control and eventually started to make its own real life digital monsters. Which is where the kids in this season come along. All of them somehow are connected to a Digimon that has somehow crossed over in order to help them stop the program and evil Digimon who are trying to destroy the humans and the world that created them.

So unlike the first two seasons this one took mainly in the real world and not in the digital world and tried to focus more on balancing real life with these battles they have with the “bad” digimon that cross over. There are also some side plots that come into and out of focus as well and pretty much everyone and their families are connected somehow.

That being said the first half was extremely slow-moving and seemed very unfocused. You didn’t know where the story was going or what was going on. In the first two seasons you had clear goals from the beginning. Season 1 was to get back home to the Real World. Season 2 had the Digimon Emperor. This one just had a bunch of kids discovering digimon and fighting bad guys while a secret agency also tried to stop digimon from crossing over. It wasn’t until the middle of the season (and these seasons have around 50 episodes) that you got a clearer picture. It made it frustrating to watch and on several times I attempted to quit. However about halfway through the main group of kids heads into the Digital World and we get some very poignant and serious moment from a kids tv show. It dealt with death, friendship, family, acceptance, as well as being selfish but also knowing when you have to do things for yourself and not for others. Some of those topics can be pretty adult especially for the age range that this is aimed at. The dubbed version does a good balance of not only having jokes but also getting to the serious moments (and I am sure the Japanese original dub is even more serious). I found myself even learning a lesson or two about my own life from this children’s show.

One of the things this show does, because it has so many episodes, is that it develops the characters so well that they actually seem different from beginning to end. They get a maturity about them after going through all of the sacrifice and problems. We learn that one character, Gerry, whose Digimon ends up getting killed. She is having troubles at home with a remarried father. She doesn’t feel accepted by people and she ends up going to a very dark place and becomes the center of all of the conflict in the last third of the show.

The season does kind of fall apart a little bit at the end, I always feel like the show doesn’t know how to end and tries to wrap everything up in about the last ten minutes of the show. It just doesn’t work but the middle of this season does get to you and you realize why the beginning has so much exposition so you care for the characters.

If you have a child, or are a child at heart, and you can deal with some of the goofy and sometimes low brow humor than any season of this show is solid. Especially with all of the character work.

Fringe Season 2 – Episode 6 “Earthling”

Much like Survivor I got a little behind in some real life things to put up these reviews. But I should be able to do it this next week. Fringe took a couple of weeks off and came back with quite the episode. It wasn’t a mythological laden one but another standalone episode. The good thing was that it revolved heavily around Phillip Broyles and helped developed his character a bit more, something this show is still afraid to do. We have Nina, Astrid, and Broyles who are all excellent but also underdeveloped compared to our lead three.

Fringe does a great cold opening as usual. They tried to make something sweet turn just horrifying as we see the anniversary literally fall apart. It was just awesome knowing that the wife was going to not be pleasantly surprised by her husband’s early homecoming but going to be surprised by his death. Great stuff.

I am so glad they decided to develop this whole episode over Broyles. Reminds me the first time they had a Skinner-Centric X-Files episode. It just makes you like this secondary character so much more and you see a lot of more of what the actor can do. I liked everything from the opening scene with Broyles playing with the kid to the restaurant to the final scene where he looks destroyed after talking with his ex-wife.  We got to see a bit of Broyle’s human and emotional side and learn that he is doing all this to make the world a better place, originally for his family. However because this was such a tough case his wife turned away from him and now he has no one despite doing it for them in the first place. How sad is that?

This episode was extremely X-Files like. Sorry but you have to see the comparisons. A Cosmonaut brings back some sort of organism with him after a space walk and both of their molecular structures bond together. Together the two need radiation to survive (at least that is what I got out of it).

While this is all going on Broyles is in contact with Senator Van Horn saying that the CIA has taken over this case and wants Broyles and the FBI to cease and desist. Broyles tells Olivia that they cannot document anything and that this an off the record investigation. Broyles eventually gets some more information from Van Horn which leads them to the Cosmonaut and whom eventually Broyles kills….we think.

Broyles has a very touching scene with his ex-wife, who we learn has remarried. He tells her that the case, which was the reason she left him in the first place, was closed. She tearfully congratulated him and asked him inside to dinner which he turns down. It once again showed that Broyles had a past and definitely shows a softer side. However a very interesting scene played out afterwards.

After walking away a mystery man walks about to him  saying that Broyles has a good friend in Van Horn. He repeated that when the CIA asks someone to cease and desist they mean it and that he wants to see no record of this case. Broyles asks what they did with the Cosmonauts body and the mystery man looks up in the sky and says that they had no choice once he started to breath again.

This puts this into a more government conspiracy (wait like X-Files?) thing that what was originally believed. So something is going on with the government, Massive Dynamics, and the Observers. What did the CIA do with the body and who was this man who was talking to Broyles?

And just a quick not to Michael Giachinno. Some excellent new music in this episode, I don’t know much but I thought i heard some horns in it that have not been used before. Very good job and definitely gave a different feel to this episode.

Survivor Samoa Episode 9 – “We Don’t Need to Be Worried About the Idol…”

So will Galu continue to fall apart? Yes. Will they realize that they are throwing away their game? Probably not. But after watching them strategize in this episode I have to say that Foa Foa’s chances are getting a lot better. They could just turn this whole game around.

Natalie cemented herself as my favorite with the whole rat killing scene. She comes across as so innocent and yet she is playing the game and doing whatever she can to survive. The whole scene was cute and hilarious with her reaction the rat and not sure how she should kill it. I really wasn’t sure who to like this season since we saw so much Russell and not really of anybody else but Natalie has slowly been growing on me and I think I want her to stick around for the remaining amount of episodes.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Laura. She is still pissing me off. Russell felt like he was going to go so he played the idol. If you ever feel nervous at all you need to play it. Laura thought it was a stupid move but Russell just wanted to make sure he made it to the next round. Not stupid at all. Laura I think has a very straightforward way about the game. That everything really appears on the surface and not a lot of people are making behind the scenes moves. However they obviously are and Laura is not seeing them at all.

The digital number challenge would have been awful to do. There seemed like so many possible ways it could go and once you figured out what a number was you had to then change the coconuts around to even be sure they were all flipped on the right side. Not impossible but without eating it must have done an umber on their heads.

I cannot believe Russell found the idol for the second time by just looking around camp. That is amazing. He just wanted to look around and it just sort of fell into his lap again. Word to the producers hide these idols a bit harder because it is probably very easy to find them. I think that the producers will realize after this season that they need to rethink how to introduce the idol into the game. Russell has changed the way the game is played and definitely deserves to (and sorry if you don’t know) be in the All Stars season in the spring.

Shambo is smart to go with Foa Foa but she does need to realize that they will not have her back once they get to five. She needs to take out Laura and once that is done then she needs to start figuring out how to integrate back with the original Galu members.

I kind of like the simple challenges this season but like last week I feel a little cheated. We have seen some great challenges that are rather complicated and intricate and we are just not seeing them this season. It just seems really basic almost like this is the first four seasons. Again it isn’t a bad thing and I know I’ve complained about how long challenges last in the past but it would be great to have complicated challenges that are still done in the same amount of time.

We almost got rid of Laura again but of course she wins immunity. I don’t think I’ve been as irritated by someone since Ozzy in Micronesia. She is like a gnat that will not go away. Good for Laura for winning immunity but that has got to be the most irritating thing wanting to get rid of her and then she wins immunity twice in a row. But once again they show that Laura is an idiot thinking that Natalie is with  her.

Why Kelly or Monica? Why are they the targets and not Brett, John, or Dave? Unless Laura is just such a huge threat that her girls in her club are much more menacing then these guys at challenges. I just don’t know what these women are doing that is so threatening. Foa Foa could have easily gotten rid of John, Brett, or Dave but they went after Kelly? Kelly wasn’t even in the game. Speaking of other useless members…

Jaison, just quit now. He is saying that Russell deserves this…um vote him out then. When you realize that someone deserves to win this game then they need to go. Jaison was awesome when he defended himself against Ben in the early episodes but since then I have to agree with Erik. Jaison has strength and is smart but he is not putting it together. He is just kind of there and kind of trying to strategize but against isn’t doing too much.

And not doing too much is Galu with their awful strategy. Dave, you have got to worry about the idols. I don’t know why people are so stupid. Yes you have to think of all of the possibilities. Russell could very easily have the idol again. The Galu tribe clearly doesn’t know how to play the game despite winning so damn much. They have no sense in how strategy works.

And that brings me to Shambo who is so obviously not with Galu even to her former Galu members yet did not vote for Kelly. Shambo they all know you’ve switched and that you hate Laura. I can see why she is trying but it almost makes her look more suspicious rather than innocent which is what she is trying to do. Her odd but hilarious nod to Laura after Laura says that Russell has stirred a lot of trouble shows STILL that Shambo doesn’t know what to do.

Russell still knows how to put on a good show by saying that he isn’t done playing yet. Brilliant move there and we got rid of extra boring Kelly. And hey maybe they can toss Brett out next…cause he isn’t doing much either.

Survivor Samoa Episode 8 – “Overplaying”

What a crazy awesome episode. The merge always helps Survivor find its feet cause the game changes so much. It is an exciting episode because we get to see everyone come together and scramble in order to not be voted off and oh man not Erik. Yes he was an angry person but I think he was also a fairly good player. He probably went a little crazy considering we heard him say several names in this episode and it eventually ended up on Jaison. The tribe felt that he was dangerous and rightfully so because he probably was.

Laura still is pissing me off and quickly becoming the person I like the least. Fighting with Shambo? Erik was right who looks crazy…not Shambo she is already crazy. You look crazy. Laura thinks she is really smart and she isn’t. She thinks she knows what she is doing but is making herself a bigger target. I don’t see how she can win this at this point.

The merge at 12? Crazy but also really exciting I am so glad that they are now one tribe and didn’t try to stretch this out until the final 10 or 9. Especially with these huge bloated casts. Nobody wants to wait until nine people if we started with twenty of them. Plus 19 seasons into Survivor they hadn’t merged this early yet. Still glad that the crew is pulling out tricks after so many years.

Russell has an interesting strategy by using his hidden immunity idol by showing it to Laura. Unfortunately Laura isn’t as stupid as some of the people on Foa Foa, at least strategy wise. However Laura was pretty stupid saying she was in control of the game. You never say you are in control. Russell’s strategy starts to fall apart though when he showed it to John and Monica. They are all going to compare notes. Now John might be smart by kind of going along with it and seeing the opportunity but he is also smart enough to be cautious about it. I think all of these people watched Tocantins, they must have seen Timbira lose their entire 6 to 4 lead because of smart moves by JT….and the same thing happened back in Cook Islands where the Aitutaki four were able to outwit the Rarotonga five. Will the same thing happen with Galu that happened to Timbira as well as Rarotonga?

I got so angry that Laura won immunity, great television though. It is always awesome when the person about to be voted off wins immunity whether they knew they needed it or not.  It forces everyone else to rethink their strategy and decide for someone else completely different to go. I do hope that the crew is saving their budget for the next All Stars though because this challenge was a little lame. Yes this would have been fine back in the first few seasons but after seeing some truly complicated challenges it is a bit disappointing seeing another ball toss challenge.

“Who’s Erik?” best line of the episode. It also shows that Shambo is completely out of it and doesn’t know what is going on. The dumbass even voted for Jaison this episode? Why? I think I will need to go back and see her reasoning cause she keeps making herself look like an outcast.

Here is what Erik’s problem was, Erik should have followed his own advice and taken out Foa Foa one by one. He kind of dug his own grave by targeting Monica so hard. He basically went to Foa Foa and tried to dictate to them what had to happen. And if I was Foa Foa I wouldn’t let that happen, I would have gone after the person trying to call the shots. Great move on their part taking out Erik, I just wish we had gotten to see a bit more of his hot-headed nature we’ve been seeing. He got so aggressive. Also a decent move on John, Dave, and Brett’s part if they don’t let Foa Foa get control of the game. This way they can get a little farther and don’t have to worry about Erik calling shots.

Should be interesting to see if Foa Foa can turn this around.

Survivor Samoa Episode 7 – “Foa Foa Falls Down”

Oh well. Same old same old. After an amazing episode the week before we were given this. Shambo was stupid and Foa Foa lost the immunity challenge. One of the problems with this season is that it is the Russell H show and much like last season it is hard to really get to know anybody else when one contestant is shoved down our throats so much. Yes I want the most entertaining moments but I want to know who some of these people are…and we didn’t get that with Liz. She is sneaky? Suspicious? Why? She is short and doesn’t deal with a lot of the bullshit. Ok that is great but who is she really? Liz seems like she is a great character but we never saw any of it.

Foa Foa needs to be glad that there is a merge cause they were going to be decimated. They just got into a downward slump and could not get out of it. I am just so sick and tired of them losing and being barely shown who is on Galu that I am welcoming this merge with open arms. Finally.

But let’s get to the few, and very few, highlights of the episode.

Great idea by the men to nominate Shambo as leader. It puts all of the attention on her and now they also control all of her decisions. The three other women on Galu frustrate me and I hate them. Kelly is practically non-existant but comes in with bitchy comments about Shambo as do the other two. Who are you people? I am not saying that Shambo is the next great player, in fact she is slightly overrated in a Rupert way  but really? Monica frustrates me, yes they voted for Shambo. They clearly were trying to manipulate Shambo and yet Monica was so blind she had no idea they were doing it. The boys were clearly pushing Shambo into the spotlight in order to avoid being seen as sa good target themselves it was actually a great plan. Something goes wrong and it is all her fault and everyone gets through another round.

I just hate Laura. Yes she thinks she is playing Russell just as Russell thinks he is playing her but she is just stupid and obnoxious. Her voice is grating and I think she thinks she is better than most people. Russell totally tried to manipulate her using the whole Christian angle and it was brilliant and if she ends up falling for it than all the more power to him.  She of course is all pissed off that Shambo sent her to Galu but I think that if the tables were turned she probably would be like “It is game and someone had to go and I don’t like Shambo so I picked her.” It just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Yea it sucks you didn’t get to go on the reward but just take your licks and deal with it. Plus she just doesn’t see how easily she is being manipulated by Natalie and Russell.

“Liz is so stupid. I don’t even see how she can walk without falling down.” One of the best quotes ever. Russell totally hit the nail on the head when he talked about her. Yes Liz, Natalie wasn’t helping with the fire but Natalie was trying to get in good with Laura because this thing called the merge is coming up. Maybe you should have tried to play a bit more of a social game?

It was an interesting little thing with Mick’s sideplot about being hexed or having bad luck. This guy is probably not used to losing and it is almost slightly comical that he decided that the leader necklace was bad luck. He is pretty much one note and doesn’t have much personality but seems like a good guy.

Jaison however is so useless. He was great way back in the beginning but he just gives up so easily. I hate that he tried to get himself voted off and it just seems useless. Liz totally deserved to stick around over him just because she wants to be there. Liz likes to argue and be very short with people and isn’t exactly the best social player but at least she wants to play. Jaison does not.

Merge will definitely make this exciting.

Survivor Samoa Episode 6 – “HD Defeat”

This is extremely late and I am trying to catch up, sorry about that.

This was an amazing episode. Perhaps the best one since Micronesia aired. It was almost like a movie, everything from the foreshadowing at the beginning to the build up of Russell working to hard to him passing out at the challenge and all the way up until the end as the two tribes pitted themselves against each other at tribal council to the slow pan up to the sky as the credits began to appear. Just brilliant. What a perfect episode to watch in HD.

And it was my first HD episode ever. It seemed like a completely different show. I was blown away at all of the nature shots and even the contestants themselves. You could see individual pieces of sand in their hair and on their bodies. It was just incredible. It gave me a new appreciation of the show and all the work that goes into it. The ocean shots, the pans across the islands, and tribal council all looked fantastic and makes me wish I could go back and watch Tocantins and Gabon in HD or that they would release those seasons on Blu-ray. Heck why isn’t the Amazing Race being shot in HD with all of their around the world locations they show. Incredible. I will be investing in a HD tivo soon so that I can watch it every time cause it really was fantastic.

That being said…I really think Russell brought his evacuation from the game on himself. I liked Russell S. a lot but he made some bone headed moves. You have to be careful to not piss off your tribe and he did that time and time again. You also have to realize that you cannot work in the pouring rain for five days while not eating and drinking properly. You just cannot. Your body will not handle it. He should have rested more, he clearly was overworking and his body simply could not handle it. Russell could have gone all 39 days without a problem if he just would have rested during those rainy days.

When Jeff Probst or someone said that this episode was actually kind of scary I didn’t know how much weight to put in that. Granted Michael Skupin falling in the fire in Survivor Australia was a horrifying experience to watch but all of the evacuations since have seemed relatively tame. But when he was unconscious and flopping around it definitely seemed a little hairy. Then it got worse before it went better I literally had my mouth open as Russell passed out for the third. He looked dead. He literally looked like he was gone. His eyes were so scary yet I had to keep watching it was just so investing. Almost incredible that he had gotten to that point of dehydration and exhaustion. I was sad to see Russell go and he was in a fairly good position not a great one but I still will stand by that I think he did this to himself. Not intentionally of course but he could have rested…

Another great part was Jeff’s little speech to Russell. It seems that Jeff is really looking for another emmy. It came off some seamlessly and so well done…almost a little to well done. But it shows how much Jeff is into his job. Plus it showed his true character when he was basically like “Yea this sucks, I feel so bad for you and there is nothing I am going to say that will make you feel better so I am going to go.” He knew that this was a traumatic experience after those horrible days and that he had to just back off.

Finally tribal council was actually pretty good after the extremely lame “nobody is going” realization. The two tribes seemed so ready to fight. Erik wasn’t happy and the Foa Foa tribe members were not happy. There was so much tension in there. Erik couldn’t even control his anger. Jeff certainly has figured out how to push peoples buttons and what questions to ask people to really get the right answers. Certainly one of the best hosts.

I can’t really speculate about what I think might happen next cause I do already know since this is so late, but as of this episode Russell H. has grown on me, much faster then Coach did. Russell H isn’t really a villain though especially on a tribe full of underdogs. He is just opinionated and playing an aggressive game and I hope he continues to be on cause is someone else going to be as entertaining? They might be but we won’t know until Russell is gone.

V Season 1 Premiere “Pilot”

This is what I wanted FlashForward to be because I thought V was awesome. Everything from the opening intro right up until the preview for next week. I  loved the intro with Elizabeth Mitchell’s eye maybe not an intentional nod to Lost but still it seemed like it to me. I loved the spaceships appearing in the reflection with the ominous noises. I loved the creepy fade into V intro as that chilling music played.

Let  me go back a little bit. I was very intrigued by V way back during Upfronts. Plus I love Elizabeth Mitchell in Lost, she played an excellent Juliet. So I was really excited about this show and loved it when I heard that is was premiering in November instead of the spring.

V grabs you right from the start and didn’t let go. I was hooked right the whole time. The premise is great. Aliens (or Visitors), who looks like humans, arrive bringing a message of peace. They promise to help with technological advances and universal health care in exchange for natural resources. However they aren’t exactly what they seem and a small group of outsiders who are suspicious about the Visitors band together to form a resistance. The Visitors are not what they seem and have already infiltrated Earth. They want something from the humans but their motives are suspicious. We are slowly going to learn more and more about their motives as the story progresses but already the resistance was attacked by a band of Visitors and Anna, the “leader” of the Visitors has already asked reporter Chad Decker to paint them in a good light.

Morena Baccarin pretty much steals the show as Anna. She is just removed enough and seems chilling and warm at the same time.  She does an excellent job as the leader of the Visitors and slickly delivers all of her lines. She is the highlight of the show for sure.

On the opposite end is Scott Wolf who plays one of the worst reporters ever. I don’t believe Chad Decker would be reporting for a major news network at all. He is really the casts only weak point. He has a good plot but he just does a terrible job at delivering some of his lines, it comes across as very manufactured yet under-rehearsed. It is very apparent that he is acting.

One of my favorite things about this show is how possible the human reaction is to the visitors. At first I would think that humans would be freaked out but when they would realize they were friendly they would become obsessed with them. Immediately the aliens would become a world-wide obsession and would change the world. I don’t think that humans would think they were equal, they would almost worship them for their superior technology. This ties in great with the whole religion plot. The Bible wouldn’t say what to do and people would be confused. These aliens are offering a change to life as we know it and people will be confused and not know what to do. Is this really a good thing or should we be suspicious of them? It makes me suspect that the head priest could be a Visitor himself. Why is he so adamant that the V’s are good and to praise God for them? Suspicious.

It wasn’t an awful plot but I wasn’t to fond of the whole engaged to a Visitor thing. I thought it was a great reveal at the end that not only was Erica’s partner a Visitor but also was Ryan.  Maybe now it will be a bit better now that we know that Ryan is a visitor himself but it needs to go somewhere.

Speaking of other people being a Visitor, I highly suspect Tyler’s best friend who just happened to get tickets to go aboard the ship. Really? He is totally one. It will be interesting than to see where Tyler’s loyalties lie. With his mother who he isn’t in the best relationship with or with these new aliens he is obsessed with.

Finally the music and the CGI were spot on. It felt very chilling the whole time yet the music accompanied the show and didn’t overpower it. I was also very impressed with the computer graphics. Everything from the ships to the aliens to inside the ships. It all just looked great.

Really great pilot and I hope the rest of the series delivers. Only three more episodes though until March…hopefully the ratings will be a success that it might come back sooner.