Undercovers, new season of USA

I came a little late to the J. J. Abrams show Undercovers. But, thanks to there not being much else on in the time slot that interested me, I decided to give it a chance even though I had missed the first couple of episodes.

It is interesting that it does what Abrams' other show Fringe was supposed to do, be a show that the casual viewer could watch. He realized that as Alias went on, the show became so continuity heavy that if viewers didn't watch it from the beginning or missed part of a season, it was too dense to get into. Fringe was supposed to address that, be a bit like The X-Files in that there was an over arcing back story and continuity but succeeded on the individual week to week individual menaces. However, more and more the back story and continuity of Fringe became important to the point that this season is completely impenetrable to anyone that wasn't already following from the previous week. It's a great show, but I am one of the people watching from the beginning.
Undercovers has an easy back story that is easy to pick up and there is an underlying subplot but one that so far has not highjacked the easy to follow self-contained missions each week. This week, we actually get to see the side-kick Hoyt show he has a little more secret-agent training than just being a tech geek. It's also a fun smart show that doesn't require you to check your mind at the door such as half of the story elements of Covert Affairs.

I think what's also important is that the characters of Samantha and Steven Bloom are an attractive, smart and charismatic couple who just so happen to be African-American. Nothing about the show dictates they have to be, the show isn't written to be about race or to attract just one racial demographic. Instead it crosses boundaries, it's written to appeal to anyone that likes the genre of the show. The actors have a great chemistry together on screen and come across as a likable couple who are trying to make a marriage work but happen to carry a lot of baggage from their past and previous relationships. Only in this case it's because they both were at one time spies and have pasts that they aren't always at liberty to divulge.

So, you have a smart and action packed show that crosses boundaries. Naturally, it's been canceled with no new episodes ordered. No attempt at trying the show in a different slot, maybe airing it at two different times to see if it would do better on a different night or different time. A shame, because we could use more shows like this one. But, good shows get canceled all the time. I still miss Life.

USA's fall season has started. Last night with Psych and tonight with Burn Notice. While Psych has become more of a farce and parody than the light-hearted mystery it started off as, it is still an immensely enjoyable show. Cary Elwes was excellent reprising his role as an extremely capable gentleman art thief and a delight to watch. "Skydiving Judy Denches" indeed. More importantly was the forward movement on the possible romance between Shawn and Juliet. In some shows, such a movement is the kiss of death. But, others with shows that have extremely strong supporting casts like Friends and the recent Big Bang Theory have proven that it need not be. In fact, it can be just as dangerous to continually skirt the issue, losing all momentum and become a caricature of itself as it constantly plays out the exact same beats week in and week out. Covering new ground can help keep the show fresh just as much as it can become a jump the shark moment. In fact Friends also showed that as well with the character of Ross as he ultimately became a parody of himself, with one doomed relationship after another, never getting past the influence of Rachel on his storylines. Characters sometimes need to be allowed to grow some, and we're getting that chance with Shawn in Psych. The relationship may not work out, but it's an aspect of the characters that need to be worked out so that the story lines can move on. Now, if we can get a little bit more back to the whole solving mysteries with the illusion that it's him being psychic with light touches, a mystery show with comedic touches vs a comedy with a mystery backdrop, I'd be a very happy camper. And, I've long given up on spotting the pineapple. I never see it. Won't be until January for the return of Royal Pains unfortunately.

Hawaii 5-O has been the surprise hit for me this season. The power and chemistry between the actors and characters has really worked so I don't mind it's a total re-imagining/retconning of the original series. I don't mind that Grace Park is yet again playing a character that was originally a guy. One of the big plusses is that it makes Hawaii a part of the character of the show. It's not just simply the backdrop, but an integral part of the show. It has its own culture, history and racial mixes and the show tries to get a bit of that across. The import and impact of Pearl Harbor is part of the character of Steve McGarrett as his grandfather was (and is) on the Arizona as is his growing up there, though still considered a bit of an outsider while Danny is still a fish out of water, the mainland cop newly arrived to the island. It's more of an action show than a cop show, but it is a good and fun action show. Wish we'd see a bit more for Daniel Dae Kim to do than to be given some information gathering task that takes him off screen for most of the show. And, there are some subplot elements from the first episode that haven't been touched on since, it would be nice to see some followup there before it's all completely forgotten.

Smallville, Vampires in Hawaii?

Smallville: For the 2ooth episode, James Marsters will return to the show but not quite in the role he originally played. When before he was the recurring character of Milton Fine/Brainiac, he will now appear as Brainiac 5. As Brainiac 5 is of the Legion of Superheroes (first seen at the start of last season) and Marsters is obviously not a teen, this must be even further along the Legion's future.

For non-comic book fans, Brainiac 5 was a descendant of sorts from the Superman villain Brainiac. Only this time, he was a teen and a hero, serving with the Legion of Superheroes. Which set up an interesting time-travel wrinkle as it meant in the comics Superboy would meet Brainiac 5 before he ever heard of Brainiac. Supergirl, also a member of the Legion, would have known the villain first and recognizes the resemblance to the villain her cousin fought. The two would have a long history of time-crossed crushes.

Last week's episode with the re-appearance of Kara/Supergirl and the introduction of Glorious Godfrey was a lot of fun. Although, Godfrey was hardly glorious and flamboyant. The character should have been more along the lines of Kenneth Branagh as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, only not as a buffoon but charmingly insidious.

We have more of the tiresome Clark's destiny to do this and not do this. Meanwhile, we see other heroes actually leading the way with Oliver going public with his identity and Kara performing superheroics in public. We need less talk about seeming pre-ordained destiny. We, as viewers, already know what Clark's destiny is, so we don't need literalizing it in the stories themselves. We're interested more in the obstacles and growth.

The end with seeing Kara in her "Linda Lee" look was a nice nod to the comics, but it manages to sabotage it as well. One, Laura Vandervoot was too made up in her disguise, too glamourous looking for a disguise that is supposed to be making her fit in. Two, Clark recognizes her right away, highlighting the ineffectiveness of such a disguise. Another nice nod was Lois trying to come up with a name for her and the first two were Supergirl and Powergirl. Powergirl is the identity of a Kara from an alternate history.

Erica Durance does a good job as Lois with what they give her. A pity it's someone that is too often a goofball and love-sick school girl instead of a competent and driven journalist. In this one episode, she violates journalist rules right and left. As they are looking back at the early seasons for the upcoming 200th episode, the writers and creators need to look at how Chloe Sullivan was written and portrayed. That passion for seeking and reporting the truth and fighting against cover-ups and corruption, that needs to be Lois Lane.

Hawaii Five-O: Finally caught these on the In-Demand channels as it normally airs opposite something else we watch. I don't remember much of the original series other than the opening theme and Jack Lord. So, I was surprised to see this is more along the lines of an action series than a cop drama set in Hawaii.

It's a fun show, with plenty of fast moving action. I've always liked Daniel Dae Kim as an actor and Grace Park is always a delight. More importantly, their characters as cousins, with Kim as the experienced but disgraced cop and Park as the fresh out of academy and surprisingly tough rookie are fun to follow and have a chemistry together that works well. Likewise, the bickering and chemistry between military intelligence McGarrett and experienced cop and father Dano Williams as played by actors Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan play well.

The only real groaners are the attempts at working in the classic "Book 'em, Dano" in every episode and how they gain the Hawaii Five-O name.

An interesting trivia, James Marsters (shown as Brainiac above) is the villain in the first episode and we see him fight against O'Loughlin's McGarrett and ultimately is set up to be possibly dead but open for a future return. Marsters' big claim to fame is his role as the initially villainous vampire Spike in the tv series Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Angel. O'Loughlin played the heroic vampire Mick St. John in the tv series Moonlight. Maybe, we'll see other television vampires pop in.

No Ordinary Family: Still enjoying this look at a family trying to cope with powers. But, each episode tends to have a scene that bugs me. Last week it was Julie Benz running at superspeed in high heels. No wonder she tripped

This week, we get several that just throw me out of the show. Chiklis throws a man off the top of a top building and he lands on his back on top of a police car and not only does the guy survive, but he's up and walking with no problem within 24 hrs.

The the whole use of superspeed to break into a high security building, the sorta thing that works in a comic but not really when you have to portray it. And, at the end, her swapping the blood vials shows a little blurring on the security tape on just the vial swapped but not the fact that she was standing there. If it's because that particular vial was swapped, instead of a little blurring for a second, we'd just see it suddenly "jump" as its position was changed between frames.

The humor was also a bit over the top at places, with characters doing just stupid things. The stars of the week that salvaged it were the kids just trying to navigate the world of teenagers and generally acting like teenagers. The angst and humor there felt spot on and natural without being over-wrought.

Supernatural: We have the return of Misha Collins as the angel Castiel. He's not quite his charming self with the new responsibilities and restoration of powers though.

Doesn't look like Sam came back from his prison completely intact. If not for Cas not seeming to notice, I'd wonder if it was Sam at all and not a copy. In several places, it implies that Sam went to Hell like Dean did, but that wasn't really the case. We're not exactly sure what kind of place Sam went to. But, the future previews suggest an explanation is in the offering. And, when did Jared Padalecki get so buff?

Had a few problems with this episode, mainly that they seemed to forget their mission, to get the Staff of Moses, and the fact that other weapons from Heaven were stolen. They got one piece of the staff and freed one soul, but that was it after all the hoopla and build-up of how dangerous that multiple people had the pieces and other weapons were out there. I'm sure we'll see other weapons pop up, but it seemed off kilter that the reason they were there was all so conveniently forgotten at the end of the episode.

Interesting, at the Supernatural listing at IMDB, their car is listed as a character/actor.

Other shows shows: After watching two episodes of The Event, I bailed. I wasn't a big fan of Lie to Me but at least it gives something else to watch. Plus another channel has started showing this season's Bones as a second run which is great as it is on opposite other shows I like plus being on a channel that doesn't have their shows on In Demand for later viewing. $#*! My Dad Says continues to be surprisingly enjoyable and not the one-note show it so could easily have been. I wonder about the return of Tim Bagley's character and establishing him as house-keeper though. The actor and character are a riot but it's a sign of a show still trying to find itself when it adds new characters to the status quo. Hopefully, he'll be kept to a minimum and not wear out his welcome. Law & Order: UK is a worthy addition to the franchise and had more of the feel and pacing of the original than the first episode of Law & Order: Los Angeles did. Realized one of the problems I have with really getting into and keeping track of the characters in SGU Stargate Universe is that they don't use each others' names very often and add to it that there is an omnipresent brown-ness and dimness to the sets, costumes and lighting, and a whole lot of secondary and tertiary characters who are often there in scenes episode to episode but not used much. Look at other shows, you'll notice that there is usually a steady use of calling people by name, reinforcing the characters' identities throughout a show as well as references to a tag that describes the role of the character. They need to work more on truly differentiating the various characters, making each memorably stand out.

BBC Shows

Aahh... the joys of digital television and On Demand. I love catching up on old shows that I missed due to being out of town or just gotten behind on such as Being Human or just the ones that I miss due to being on opposite of other shows that I like such as Rules of Engagement. Although, it is a little annoying in how some channels don't show up on the On Demand channels or just are absent for whatever reason such as CBS has the tired Two and a Half Men but not the superior How I Met Your Mother or Big Bang Theory.

In a small marathon system, I watched the last several episodes of the BBC show Being Human. The Sy-fy channel is developing an American version though I wonder why. If it was being developed for the major networks such as the CW I could see their concern. But, Sy-fy is already a niche channel and most that watch the station aren't really going to care about the pedigree of the actors and shows. I also wonder if it will follow the BBC scripts like NBC did with Coupling or just use it as a starting point? NBC showed that it is possible to recreate a show using the exact same scripts and still manage to produce a complete dud where the original sparked and sizzled.

The premise of the show was originally about three people with mental issues (a sex addict, agoraphobe, and a guy with anger management problems) sharing a house but changed to a supernatural show about a vampire, ghost, and a werewolf sharing a house. In the last few episodes, the werewolf George decides to move in with a girlfriend and her daughter though he hasn't told them about his problems. Meanwhile Mitchell is struggling with the role of leadership he has found himself as he tries to guide other vampires in giving up blood just as he has. This leaves the ghost Annie with the possibility of spending eternity alone as she is once again invisible to most humans. On top of this are the exterior pressures of Kemp, an elderly priest who heads an organization that has targeted them, and Lucy, the female doctor who is working for him but developing a relationship with Mitchell. The organization lures Nina, George's ex- who is also cursed with lycanthropy, with promises of a false cure in hopes to also get George.

Daylight savings time screws things up for George and he practically wolfs out at Parent's Night at his girlfriend's daughter's school. He realizes that his dreams of normalcy will never come true while he is cursed and he agrees to accompany Nina to the secret labs and be cured. The organization also promises Nina to secretly help her move on. Due to finding out more about Mitchell and his group of vampires and when and where they are holding their self-help group meetings, the organization plants bombs, killing all the vampires on site saving Mitchell. As Mitchell hunts the bombers, he discovers the betrayal of Lucy which sets him off on a killing spree. It all culminates with much bloodshed though Lucy and Kemp manage to escape. In a surprising twist, before he leaves, Kemp kills one of his own men in order for a door to the afterlife to be opened, pulling Annie through.

It ends with Nina, George, and Mitchell in a cabin trying to find clues to the whereabouts of Lucy and the priest when Lucy shows up, apologetic for her role, that she really did want to find a cure for lycanthropy. However, if Lucy could find them, is Kemp far behind? He shows up to kill Lucy but then out of the blue in a shockingly creepy scene, Annie blips in, grabs Kemp and takes him through the door of the afterlife while still alive! She then shows up on the television set and pretty much informs them that the waiting room of the afterlife is fairly terrible. It ends with them vowing to some way get Annie back. And, a ritual in a cemetery bringing back Herrick, the vampire adversary of the first season.

A nice season with the characters growing and suffering setbacks of their basic nature. Mitchell's devolvement is especially troubling in accepting him as a sympathetic character. He's akin to the person that is fine as long as he stays off drugs or stays on his proper medication, but his condition makes him a time-bomb waiting to go off. No matter his best intentions, eventually he's going to slip and kill someone. Knowing this should he be held accountable for those he killed? Kemp starts off as the typical holier than thou priest adversary in such shows, but we get a nice scene that explains what set him on this path, seeing vampires slaughter his wife and daughter. Now decades later, he has gone so far as to become a monster himself, valuing human life less than those he hunts. Although, in several scenes it's hard to take him as a credible physical threat considering his age.

In the future season, it would be nice to see an exploration of what other supernatural beings are out there other than just these three.

Good News: It appears that BBC America will soon be showing Law & Order: UK. I like the original and being in a setting like London sounds like an interesting variation and providing a look at a nuts and bolts side of culture and life of the UK that doesn't really get much inspection. It also has the beautiful Freema Agyeman of Doctor Who fame. On the flip side, the opening episode of Law & Order: Los Angeles was flat and dull despite having several actors that I like including the usual excellent Alfred Molina, Oded Fehr, and Jim Beaver (apparently part of his contract now is that his wardrobe must consist of a baseball cap and plaid shirt regardless of his role).

Strangely, BBC's Sherlock is coming to PBS as part of their Mystery Series on Oct. 24 instead of BBC America. As a big Sherlock Holmes fan it looks to be an interesting adaptation, seeing the fact that Holmes & Watson were not written as archaeological artifact but as being contemporary to the time of the original audience. Thus this adaptation gives viewers the chance to experience Holmes in much the same manner as original readers did, a compelling detective of contemporary times. I prefer my Holmes as a Victorian detective, but this move helps avoiding the trap of turning him into strictly a pastiche and capturing some of the original spirit of the characters. The trailer online definitely seems like an enjoyable show with great characters. It has to be truer to the characters than the Robert Downey Jr. movie was.

Stephen Cannell RIP

Stephen J. Cannell passed away at age 69 from melanoma. He is one of, if not the, first people not in front of the camera whose name I recognized and associated with good shows. A big part of that of course is how his shows ended with a clip of him banging on a typewriter, then pulling out a sheet of paper and tossing it away only to morph into a logo. His name was associated with mainly cop/detective shows such as Rockford Files, Baretta, Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (think I'm the only person that actually remembers watching this), 21 Jump Street, Wiseguy, Hunter, Silk Starkings, Hardcastle and McCormick, Black Sheep Squadron, Rip Tide, but also delved into popular if silly shows such as Greatest American Hero and A-Team among others. Lately, he'd been appearing as himself on the show Castle as one of several real-life writers that were friends with the title character. His shows helped establish actors like Jeff Goldblum (Tenspeed & Brown Shoe), M. T (A-Team), and Johnny Depp (21 Jump Street).

Almost as impressive are his quotes on how he did business. And, despite his extensive career as a writer, until college English was one of his worse subjects due to bad spelling and he had dyslexia. Then, there's the bit that even though being in Hollywood, he was married to his first wife Marcia Finch for 46 years until his death.

Sadly, this year we also lost actor Robert Culp (of Greatest American Hero).

Godspeed Mr. Cannell.

No Ordinary Family

No Ordinary Family is in some ways a typical family drama. The father is struggling with his job where he feels ineffectual and trying to keep a fracturing family together, the mother is an over-achiever and the bread-winner of the family and mostly oblivious to the family's crisis, the high-school daughter struggles with wanting to be popular without giving in to sexual peer pressure by her boyfriend and peers and the younger son struggles with school and feeling inferior due to a learning disability. What differs is that while on a vacation, a plane crash into a mysterious lake leaves each with super-powers, gifts tailored to their unique problems.

The father and husband who feels weak and powerless both at home and at work is super-strong and near invulnerable. No longer having to feel like a second rate cop as a sketch artist, he tries to use his powers to become an active crime-fighter and superhero.

The mother and wife who is overworked and struggles to meet the trying demands of battling two fronts, home and work, gains super-speed. A gift of time.

The daughter trying to traverse the dangers and pitfalls of high school, and the feeling of being different and alone even in a crowd can suddenly read the minds of those around her, what they are truly thinking and feeling.

And, the son who feels like an idiot, gains some kind of super-intelligence, able to easily see the solutions to complex problems.

Being a superhero show in addition to a family drama, there is of course danger. The father is not as invulnerable as he thinks as he tries to take on crime and discovers there are others also with powers. And, the resolution of the pilot episode shows that the mother's boss is tied somehow to the crime wave that he's investigating, providing an over-arcing plot and storyline to future episodes as the family must come to terms with their powers.

There are clever and funny bits. When the spouses realize individually they have powers, they initially turn to their closest friends instead of each other in scenes that establish subtle bits to each character. The husband has a close friend but the wife really only has an overworked and eager to please lab assistant. The mysterious crime wave is attributed to a gang called the "Obama Bombers". At first I thought I heard wrong until we see one of the criminals and he's indeed wearing a rubber Obama mask.

The show falters with the youngest son. The two siblings are both given rather passive powers which are going to be problematical to use them effectively other than highlighting the possible problems that such abilities can cause in a family and school atmosphere. And, how long can that be played out before becoming tired? However, even in the first episode, the son's powers are the least dealt with as he doesn't display them until near the end so we don't see any follow-up to his sudden bout of super intelligence.

The actors all do a wonderful job with their parts. The children look and act like the teenagers they are meant to be as opposed to over-sexed glamorous adults. Michael Chiklis as the husband and father covers much of the same ground as he did as the Thing in the Fantastic Four movies, but he excels at playing someone that is both tough and vulnerable. You feel for him as a family man that's overshadowed by his wife's accomplishments and his struggles at keeping a family together that's threatening to drift apart with their individual concerns. Julie Benz as the mother and wife, well I cannot be totally objective there. I've had a crush on her since her days on Angel. Something about her voice... Stephen Collins as her boss plays a bit against character as he is set up with some secrets of his own, having mysterious links to others with powers that have a more criminal bent.

Much is made of the show being one the whole family can watch and it definitely has that vibe. Yet, it does so without feeling like it's being dumbed down for the adults. The real life tribulations are real ones that families cope with. And, while it's about superheroes, it doesn't venture into making fun of them or going cynical with them though maintaining a slight light-hearted feel. The over-the-top nature and comedy comes mainly from the spouses' friends and they react as many superhero fans would if their best friend gained powers. Benz' assistant wonders how the super-speed doesn't destroy the clothes, Chiklis' buddy makes him a lair decked out with dozens of computers and talks him into trying to fly. These are logical reactions as a public that thinks about all of the tropes of superheroes. Sort of like Hiro in Heroes who kept trying to cast himself and those around him into traditional superhero archetypes and cliches. But, Chiklis doesn't set himself up as a superhero or make a costume. His use of powers to go after the Obama Bomber is a natural development of his character as a frustrated police artist and not because it's the superhero thing to do. Although, he does betray a certain knowledge of superheroes when he insists that his jumps over a building are "bounds".

SGU Stargate Universe: The ongoing cast is so large for this show, the finale was a bit more convoluted than I remembered so the season premier left me playing quite a bit of catch-up with what was going on with the individual characters and plot. While it managed to resolve the major issues, it left a few other minor mysteries to be developed such as the sudden healing of Chloe's character who was practically dead from the blood loss and shock of being shot. There is actual use of the gate on the ship to temporarily remove a bunch of characters and cast from the story and to remind viewers that the show is called "Stargate" though it's really about a crew being trapped on an errant alien spacecraft. While it is hard to keep track of many of the secondary and tertiary characters, the show is a more complex and well thought out science fiction show than the more light-hearted and action oriented shows of the franchise and I feel better than the Sci-Fi channel's much lauded Battlestar Galactica whose style it emulates. If for no other reason that the science fiction extrapolation is better handled. Galactica never ceased to annoy in how North American-centric so many props and clothing were. Despite the budget, no thought was really given as to the fact that these people were from completely different and alien cultures. Yet their formal clothes included your standard suit jacket, pin stripe shirt and neck tie.

The Human Target debut delayed: All summer long, I've been wondering why The Human Target was moved to Fridays opposite Smallville. Despite being on separate networks, both are adaptations of characters published by DC Comics and by extension, Warner Brothers. You'd think that the company would do everything in their power to fight having two of their properties being in direct competition. Especially as this is the last season of Smallville and only the second of The Human Target, so it behooves them to want both especially to succeed. The former so as to not to have to do a rush wrap up job is numbers start tanking and also in case there is a chance of a spinoff. The latter so that it will not only make it to the magical third season which is generally when a show becomes profitable for syndication but also to maintain a presence of having successful properties on the air. Well, the premier originally scheduled for this Friday has been delayed until mid-November and moved back to Wednesdays!

A Whole Lot of Resurrections Going On.

Friday night seemed to be "bring characters back from the dead" night. Starting off with the final season opener of Smallville, Jon Schneider reprises his role as the previously dead Jonathan "Pa" Kent to appear in a vision to Clark. After the moral beat down by his dead biological father Jor-El who warns Clark against pride and that he will be the biggest danger to humanity, Pa Kent offers a balancing and more positive point of view, inspiring Clark to follow his heart and always try to be a better man than his Kryptonian father thinks he'll be. Last season we got to see Jor-El in the flesh more or less, played by Julian Sands. However, the voice of Jor-El at the fortress is still done by Terrance Stamp, the actor that played Zod in the movie Superman II. Even Clark's survival is played off as him coming back from the dead since he was stabbed rather brutally by Zod in the season finale. Luckily, Lois was on hand to remove from his chest and he got better (which means that Lois now secretly knows Clark's secrets). Lex comes back from the dead in the guise of several clones, many of whom get killed off. Likewise, Tess who seemed to be on her deathbed last season gets a miracle cure.

Somehow I missed that the government agent that was working for Checkmate and Amanda Waller was Rick Flagg, a long-time character at DC. This one is a little more ruthless than his comic counterpart and was in charge of kidnapping Green Arrow. He mercilessly tortures and beats the hero and then somehow Chloe manages to have herself exchanged for Arrow? Of Chloe, she uses Dr. Fate's helmet as an information download into her brain. Checkmate may have more than they are bargaining for.

There is a brief appearance of the Superman costume and the episode sets up as themes for the show that Clark is going to have to step out of the shadows and into the light, thus give up wearing the black and become a more colorful hero. How they will reconcile that with the fact that there's a whole lot of people that know what Clark Kent looks like without glasses is anybody's guess.

The only serious drawbacks were that there was a lot of build up of Lex Luthor's return which was resolved very quickly and the incessant talk of Clark's destiny. It's gotten to the point that even Clark talks about it which does make pride seem to be a big hurdle for him in the future. Especially with him some day taking the name "Superman". Still, the whole destiny bit gets old and pretentious and sets up Superman on that boring pedestal and being unrelatable. Whereas, a big part of what makes the Smallville series work is how much it and Tom Welling humanize the character and ground him. And, with all the talk about it being his destiny and all, it subtracts Clark's actual achievements and the aspects that he becomes this inspiration and great hero through his own inherent beliefs and actions as opposed to being goaded into it.

Supernatural follows up with a resurrection or two of its own. We knew that Sam was coming back, it was shown in the final scene of the season finale. A bigger surprise is the return of their mother's father Samuel who is also a hunter as played by Mitch Pileggi. Neither seem to have any information about why they were brought back but here's betting that Samuel knows more than he's telling.

A year has passed since the finale and the show does a wonderful job juxtaposing Dean's new life vs his old one. His outrage at finding out that Sam (and Samuel) have been back for a year and hunting without contacting him AND that Bobby knew as well is convincing as are their reasons for doing so after all they have experienced. It betrays a certain naivete in thinking that after all Sam & Dean had done not to expect someone would come looking for payback, which a group of djinns do. The djinn angle doesn't play out as well as the rest. They aren't a very convincing threat other than their poisonous touch. After mentioning them as infiltrating the town, having it just as a waitress seen in the first few minutes seemed a letdown. It's also unclear as to whether Dean's neighbors were killed or not. We know Dean's antidotes to the poison are destroyed but Sam shows up moments later with an antidote for Dean. We don't see exactly whether the neighbors are dead by that point or not though nor fallout concerning them.

A lot of negative opinions on the re-introduction of Samuel and the Campbell cousins, another family of hunters. I think people are accepting things a bit too much at face value though. I think we'll see either a more insidious plot behind Sam and Samuel's resurrections and the Campbells will be a part of it or just how different that Sam and Dean are from other hunters and how they need each other as they bring out the best in each as human beings. Kudos for not going for the obvious and easy solution to Family Man Dean. He doesn't leave them nor does the show just kill them off for angst and motivation sake. He chooses to stay and for complicated and complex reasons. Partly because after all that he's been through he does want the simpler life but he feels the responsibility to Sam and family and to all of the innocents that don't know the evils that exist around him. But, he cannot escape his sense of responsibility to his new family, Lisa and Ben either. He's trapped, because of him, they are targets. His staying makes them even more of a target, but his leaving would leave them vulnerable and not completely remove them as targets from those who would seek to strike at Dean.

I'm excited to see where this will be going and how it will play out. Often, just when I think I know how the show will go, it swerves and surprises me. I expect a fun ride.

From Big Bang to Fringe (and a little Shatner too)

Aah, remember the days of Thursday night comedies? Well, Big Bang Theory has now moved to Thursdays, serving as lead-in to William Shatner's $#*! My Dad Says. Big Bang Theory does not disappoint though I had mistakenly watched clips previously online. One of the things that makes comedy work is the set-up and surprise, which is kind of ruined if you see the set-ups and punchlines beforehand, especially if almost immediately before. Still the characters and actors are in top form, from Penny's door-knocking soliloquy, Raj's musings of toilets in Aquaman's Atlantis, the mathematical calculations of Penny's sex life and of course Howard's robotic arm that he swipes from work.

$#*! My Dad Says has the advantage of almost all of the shows on the other channels are an hour long starting at 8pm, so there's not really another half hour show to turn to. Surprisingly, it was a funny show. While his character's spoutings are the groundwork of the show, it relies on more than that. Time is invested in giving his character some heart as well as making his sons sympathetic and not bitter. There's also some good moments of fast paced banter and dialogue, not relying solely on the comments to generate laughs. Indeed, the funniest, most laugh-out loud moment comes at the end when his son Henry delivers a William Shatner impersonation in the classic Kirk dramatic pauses mode. Like How I Met Your Mother, the basic concept the show is built around may seem dubious, but the execution shows there may be some legs to it. As an aside, if there is some doubt at the Pearly Gates of me getting in, I want the guys arguing my case to be the ones that managed to convince the networks that a concept of flashbacks of one very long story being told to his kids of "How I met your mother" was a great concept for an ongoing television sitcom series . And, then made it work.

Then for strangeness' sake, the return of Fringe. A little disappointed in the episode focused almost exclusively of Olivia's time in the other reality. However, it was played well. The other reality is convincingly done, with little changes to technology and lingo, a world that is so close to ours but very different. Almost like living exclusively in rural, small town America and waking up one morning in London, England. Last season we saw it in comic book covers on Peter's apartment's wall. The Dark Knight Returns became being about Superman instead of Batman, Green Arrow and Green Lantern went red. This time one of the subtle ones was the taxis advertising the Broadway show, "Dogs". John Noble continues to amaze playing the simple, mostly cheerful boy-like Walter Bishop of our reality and the ruthless serious one of the alternate. I normally don't like it when shows go from being episodic with mostly self-contained plot episodes to being about an over-arcing uber-plotline. For one, it just doesn't hold up on watching in syndication or re-runs. And, if you miss an episode or two, it quickly becomes impossible to catch up. A reason why shows like Law & Order, Bones, NCIS, CSI, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer and their various franchises air almost continuously in syndication but 24, Lost and Alias do not despite their being immensely popular shows at one time. If Networks were looking at the long game, they'd see the wisdom would be in fewer shows like those despite their initial big numbers and water-cooler talk. Have over-arcing themes and subplots, but keep them mostly in the background and have each episode itself a satisfying story.

Something Old, Something New

Over the last couple of weeks, shows that have summer schedules have slowly been ending to make way for the new Fall premiers such as Psych, White Collar, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs (possibly the summer's best new series), Persons Unknown, etc. Thankfully, with the In-Demand channels, I've been slowly getting caught up on those that I've missed since I'm out of town so much. The ending to White Collar was a definite shocker. It also had an interesting mid scene with the pacing and direction out of an action/swashbuckler flick only to come to a grinding halt with a Mexican stand-off and a commercial break.

The last of the season finales this week seems to be Warehouse 13, the second half of a two parter. It resolves much of the ongoing plot threads for the summer season, choosing to end more on an emotional cliffhanger than a plot-driven one. The story behind H.G. Wells seems contradictory as we are given two different versions of the motivations behind the character and both are presented as truth without really supporting facts. One, she wanted to escape the past to the then-future/now-present only to be disillusioned about what she found here. Two, she's a villain that always was planning on destroying the Earth, hence being set free by McPherson only to betray him. The latter fits the plot but the former fits how the character is portrayed and the storyline is resolved. Conflicting writer ideas? Either way, the lovely Jaime Murray from the excellent series Hustle seems to be gone for now. As is Mark Sheppard's character who died in the previous episode in a most off-handed and unemotional way that it practically screamed that he couldn't really be dead but just a temporary plot device. I thought the season ending with the characters' personal lives pretty much shattered and in flux as Peter's girlfriend dumps him because she doesn't want an exciting danger-filled life and Myka's resigning due to a loss of self confidence a nice change of pace. It works because the characters are ones to care about, not just whether they live or die but whether they can find happiness.

The actors of Castle still have the chemistry together that drives a show that otherwise would only be so much fluff. Back in the early days of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of the interesting angles of the show was that the nature of the threat of the week echoed the nature of the personal lives, angst and conflict of high school that was being focused on that week. Castle manages to do a little bit of that as well, leastways in the season opener. His daughter is concerned over why a guy she's interested in hasn't called her since he got back to town. Meanwhile, Castle himself is getting the cold-shoulder by the police because he had not called them since he got back.

I enjoy watching House M.D. It straddles being a very plot driven show with being a very character driven show due to the nature of his character. What it's not though is a soap-opera show, at least not in regards to his character. I think the opening episode focusing largely on he and Cuddy forging a romantic relationship a big step in the wrong direction. As a romantic couple there is no chemistry and there couldn't be. Their relationship is one of opposition, his relationship with almost every character is that way. Even this episode underscores that as he already keeps important information regarding her job away from her in order to keep her in his apartment. Lisa Edelstein's delivery of lines when Cuddy explains why she's pursuing this with House are flat, unemotional and completely unconvincing. Unlike past shows like Cheers and Moonlighting, there has never been any real sign of romance between the two characters or even the slightest hint that deep down they were made and need each other. House may care for her and has always lusted after her, their relationship has never been one of any kind of balance. It's not a see-saw or give and take but one of butting heads or trying to rein in a tornado. If it continues for the whole season though it may be like those other shows where consumating the relationship is a sign of a show that has run out of fresh ideas.

Criminal Minds has been struggling. Often compelling with fascinating bad guys and tense situations, several episodes last season had moments that either did not make storytelling sense or just outright stupid. The season premier is the second part of the last season's cliffhanger finale with Tim Curry as one of the creepier bad guys to appear on television and in his long history of playing creepy bad guys. The show flounders in a small sub-plot of their communications liason having trouble contacting and getting authority to use the Emergency Broadcasting System. You'd think that would be an integral part of her job! Made zero storytelling sense other than to pad the episode out to fill its time slot. As the commercials airing afterwards lets the viewers know that next week she is leaving the show, maybe it's just as well if she is that incompetent at her job.

New Shows: The Event was a huge letdown. Actually, I wasn't really expecting all that much, just didn't have anything to watch for that hour. Next week, I'll just go to the tired Two-and-a-Half Men and Mike & Molly. Even so, The Event never really established any of the characters or who they were and the constant jumping around in time only served to give me a head-ache in trying to keep up with the plot and not get distracted as why the obviously African-American President was apparently Hispanic. While the commercials and ads played up the whole "secret" of what the Event was, the show itself seemed to be about everything else. It never talks about an "event" but about secret prisoners and then adds a whole 'nother mystery or wrinkle to it at the end. On the whole, a whole lot of mysteries, but very little in the way of plotline or story other than to purposely confuse the viewers. No thanks. I'd rather watch the implausible but strangely entertaining Persons Unknown.

Wasn't expecting much from The Defenders either other than two actors I generally enjoy. Like The Event, ended up watching it mainly because not much else on at the time. Unlike The Event, got a show that was extremely entertaining. The ads are misleading, playing up the sleazy sides of the characters but not the fact that they are actually very good lawyers who do seem to try to do the best for their clients. It's as if there are two different shows, one being a bit of a naughty comedy and the other a compelling legal drama. We'll see which one wins out.