I Survived A Japanese Gameshow 2 Premiere

I think I remembered this show a bit more fondly then I should have. Or otherwise I just hated how rushed the premier was. Way to much was going on and we didn’t get to meet any of the contestants. But I could say the same thing about last year because I only remember Meaghan, Bilenda, and Mary.

The whole whisked off to a gameshow in Japan without you knowing it ploy they used in the first season is gone. Now ISAJP is a phenomenon…which I don’t remember ever happening or anybody ever talking about this show. I know I loved saying Majide…as I watched this show by myself. Anyway I was delighted this was coming back and sat down with some friends and I was telling them how funny and cheesy this show was, but that it was okay because it was summer tv (and I thought it would suit them better then the first episode of revamped Doctor Who which they did not fall in love with).

Well of course they weren’t very enthusiastic about it because the episode did kind of suck. Even though the show is centered around the gameshow some of the best parts last year were the trips and in the house with Mama-san but all of that was extremely rushed so we could watch three games? The first game was only to win an advantage in the second game and it wasn’t even used so it was extremely pointless.

Also I hate sob stories on reality tv. I just didn’t feel bad for Yari and wanted faux-Omarosa Kimberly to come back and continue to cause problems. Plus what a dumb racist moved bald headed (at only 22) move Justin made. Kimberly was clearly stronger then Jamie (I had to look up her name btw) and showed it in the challenge. Plus what a bullshit call eliminating Kimberly since she didn’t have more complete butterflies. I hope they told them that was the tiebreaker beforehand.

I’ll keep watching because I am a sucker for competition reality shows but what an unfortunate start to a show I liked last summer.

Oh and more of this crazy girl please…she was the only saving grace.

DVD: Lois and Clark Season 4

I have to say season 4 might actually be the best season of the show. I know I know it is the last season and viewers dropped off very quickly. However this season they find their footing extremely well. It is just overall extremely solid. There is a mix of action, drama, love, and comedy all rolled into an episode.

Season 1 is good in its own rights. Deborah Joy Levine had done a ton of research in the characters and I thought she put together a pretty solid show. However it seemed that ABC wasn’t the biggest fan of it and got rid of Cat and the original Jimmy and even replaced the entire writing staff. Then I think the show had some trouble in season 2, the arc wit Mayson Drake was really the only rewarding thing about it. Now season 3 wasn’t as bad as season 2 but they really dragged out the whole Lois is a clone storyline a little long and the delaying of the marriage in hindsight was probably a mistake. I hear they the writers/producers even blamed the fans for the show being canceled because they wanted the marriage. However the fans didn’t want the actual marriage to keep getting pushed back and pushed back. That really killed the show.

So personally I think once Lois and Clark actually got married in season 4 all the episodes after that really worked and fell into place. Lois and Clark were dealing with problems at home (ie. pregnancy, fights, ghosts) and also worked on their case of the week. The show had a perfect balance of serialized story and whatever bad guy Superman had to face. The show even went into excellent territory with the whole Leslie Luckabee storyline and Lex Luthor’s son. Plus some of the standalone episodes were also creative. My favorites include “Bob and Carol and Lois and Clark” the Groundhog’s Day like “Twas the Night Before Mxymas” and the clever “AKA Superman.” The series finale was not the strongest episode, since it wasn’t intended to be the series finale, but the ending almost was okay. Lois and Clark were thinking of having children and then it looked like it wasn’t going to happen and then a baby ended up in their house. Clark had also just saved all of their parents as well. So it was kind of a perfect family ending. Heck even Perry and Alice had gotten back together in one of the final episodes.

I’m not sure how much longer this show could have gone. Perhaps a final season that dealt with Lois and Clark having their own child would have summed up the series better and leaving a show on a cliffhanger isn’t great either (not that the proposed storyline for the beginning of season five would have been great). I am curious to read the fan written seasons that are online and see where they went with the show. Overall I really like the fourth season of this show and I think I would rank it the best.

One final special recognition to K Callan who is clearly my favorite in this series. She did a great job as Superman’s mom.

Expedition: Africa Premiere

I’m a little behind putting this up and I haven’t watched any episodes yet since the first (sitting on my tivo). However I was surprised at how much I liked this show. I need to go and watch episode 2 and 3 though considering that the fourth episode will be on in just a few days. What I liked about this show was that it had some history, some Eco-Challenge, and some good reality show bickering. This was truly a Mark Burnett show. He did a great job casting our four explorers who are all very A-Type personalities and already seem to be getting on people’s nerves. I think the two that were probably the most aggravating were Pasquale and Benedict. Both seemed to want to be in charge but kept trying to be polite. Pasquale did definitely take the lead and Benedict let him but Benedict seemed to be a sour puss the whole time and complained the whole time. That is one that that could kill this show. Since it is all about traveling, if they get lost every single episode it could really bog it down and become extremely repetitive. Also how far away are they from each other. How did Kevin get lost so easily? If I was him, with the least experience, I would have stuck extremely close to the other people…I mean we are in Africa with a bunch of very dangerous animals.

I also loved the opening. Mark Burnett, for the most part, knows how to start a show. The four crossing the ocean from Zanzibar into the mainland was epic and very interesting to see.

At this point I really like Mireya but her whole “I can be just as strong as the boys” stick could get old very early. However she seems to be the only person who isn’t stupid and abrasive. Like really Kevin? You don’t think you should bring water? This is a Mark Burnett production they aren’t going to help you.

Pushing Daisies: The Final Episodes

So ABC this summer is burning off the episodes of three of their shows that didn’t make the cut. Pushing Daisies started at the end of May, followed by Eli Stone tomorrow night, and then in July they will air the final episodes to Dirty Sexy Money.

Either way I am still extremely disappointed that Pushing Daisies got cut. Why were people not watching this show? Why do television watchers prefer another version of CSI to something a bit different? I will never know.

I’ll be honest the second season was not as strong as the first season but it was still a hell of a lot better then most shows and these last three episodes really could have been the best thing on network tv this week.  When watching this show you always knew you were going to get a quality episode and it would leave you satisfied but still wanting more.

Anyway I enjoyed the final three episodes immensely. The first episode “Window Dressed to Kill” was very visually pleasing and had a great mystery to it. I loved the sets and the window dressing this episode. I was a little confused with some of the ongoing plots though. It was kind of hard to remember things from December. Olive stole this episode (mainly because it was Olive centric) and I loved the whole plot with her being faked kidnapped and her parents not knowing. Then having to hide her alleged kidnappers in Lily and Vivian’s house. Plus I love this show when they break the group up. The Emerson and Chuck duo was great and if it had been done they made it exciting and refreshing. Plus I loved Olive’s rendition of “Hello” by Lionel Richie…wish that was on the cd….

I didn’t enjoy the second to last episode as much. Maybe I’m stupid, I found the whole mystery of this episode to be extremely confusing and had to re-watch a few scenes to make sure I knew what was going on. I didn’t really understand the ending either or how Lila was able to sneak his daughter into the other car and then all she did was wave to him? I did like the return of Simone in this episode. She was a fantastic character and a great love interest to Emerson. Not my favorite episode though.

I did enjoy the series finale even if the ending was a bit rushed…I don’t think ABC gave them much time to come up with an ending. Regardless this episode revolved around Lily and Vivian returning to the waters as the Darling Mermaid Darlings after a shark ate a former rival. This in turn had Ned, Emerson, and Olive all pretend to be part of the Darling Mermaid Darlings group and dressed up as managers, trainers, etc. However after a fairly normal, but excellent, episode it ended up with Lily telling Vivian that Chuck was her daughter and Vivian getting mad and sending Lily away that is until Chuck comes to the door, with Ned, and announces that she is still alive and then we get a nice and quick epilogue with Jim Dale telling us what happened next. Emerson reunited with his daughter, Lily and Vivian returned to the water and toured through Europe, Olive gets together with Randy Mann and opens up her own restuarant The Intrepid Cow, and of course Chuck announces that she is alive.

Not a perfect ending but they tried to tie up any loose story lines they could. I would have loved if Ned and Chuck had kissed and Chuck hadn’t died or something to that extent. I’m also curious what the original ending was. I wonder if Chuck coming to the door was the original ending or if Lily leaving would have been the original ending.

I will greatly miss this show and I cannot wait to pick up the DVD in July.