After recently spending some quiet ‘me’ time I was finally able to catch up on ABC’s floundering FLASHFORWARD. Since the show came back from its long winter break I’d only watched two episodes so I felt as though I hadn’t really given it all that much of a chance.
When FLASHFORWARD premiered I really enjoyed the first few episodes and I thought the show had a lot of promise. The gimmick was good and in many ways the show really seemed like the heir apparent to the LOST throne. Some how though the show really lost its steam prior to taking the winter break. I’m not sure if that was from having us involved in too many stories, taking us in to many directions, or just a lack of cohesive thought in the writing process. Whatever it was I wasn’t the only one to pick up on these things because the show had a pretty big shake up in it’s creative team during the break.
After coming back from the winter break the show seemed determined to really get down to business. They instantly established the fact that another world wide blackout may be coming (OH NO!) and the show gave us something we were missing prior to the break: real bad guys that the characters would eventually have to deal with. In taking a page from X-FILES and LOST they’ve kept the bad guys mysterious, made them seem real organized, and kept us virtually in the dark as to who they are and why they are doing what they are doing. It’s something that the show was really missing and it’s a welcome addition. The recent addition of James Callis to the cast as a secret flash forward experiment victim who has all kinds of possible futures locked up in his head is probably the one story line I want to see them follow because his performance is so opposite that of BALTAR from the re-imagined BATTLESTAR GALACTICA that it’s just brilliant.
There are still some things that just don’t seem to work right and a few missed opportunities, if you were to ask me. The story of the kidnapped daughter in the middle east is one that I just don’t have a lot of interest in. The doctor with cancer who is waiting to find his Asian lady love? Yawn. Taking the hope that the futures we saw aren’t set in stone and making us question if it can really be possible? Predictable. Having an episode air on April 29th and not have it co-incide with the show’s timeline of the day of the flash, also April 29th? Meta fail.
All-in-all, however, I can really say with a degree of confidence that the show is actually worth the time to watch, especially in this latter half of the season. There is real momentum week to week and it really gives you a reason to watch instead of just making you watch to avoid missing some small detail that may be relevant later.
SNL
This past Saturday I think that SNL might actually be able to learn something from the Internet since the show featuring BETTY WHITE was probably the best episode of the entire 2009-2010 season. For the majority of this season watching SNL has been bitter-sweet as I’ve been looking for the ‘good sketch’ needle in a haystack of unfunny. I suppose even saying that it has just been this season is a bit of a stretch as well since the majority of last season was the same for me. Still, week after week, I DVR the show with the hopes that I push enough straw of funny out of the way to find that gleaming and sharp needle of funny that everyone is going to be talking about. All of that changed with BETTY WHITE.
First and foremost BETTY WHITE has (literally) had a lifetime of experience to finely tune her comedic timing to the point where I believe it is second nature. Her finely tuned comedic timing coupled with her mature and maternal grandmother facade make her a one two punch that I think just about any writer would be hard pressed to NOT make her funny. With this show there were close calls, two awkward ones in my opinion, where the premise was pushing it or BETTY seemed slightly out of sorts but even in those instances you were more forgiving because BETTY WHITE’s presence is so powerful you just didn’t care.
Another reason why I think that this episode of SNL was so good had to do with almost every major female cast member from the last 10 years returning for this special installment. I’m sure that this returning group has a certain affect in the writing room of the show that helped contribute to what, perceived by me, was a higher caliber of show quality. I also strongly suspect that this installment of the show had the benefit of lots of preparation in the way of writing being done well in advance instead of the usual writings as they go that I believe happens during regular production of the show. I only hope that there was something to be learned from the entire BETTY WHITE experiment and the forthcoming season finale with ALEC BALDWIN sends this season off in a good way.
Now let’s see what TV holds for us this week.
MONDAY
NBC – 8:00 PM: CHRISTOPHER LLOYD drops in as a therapist to help CHUCK deal with his head. Hopefully he’s more Doc Brown than Jim Ignatowski (oh heck, I’d take a nice merge of both).
CBS – 8:00 PM: The gang on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER crash a swank New York party. I sense some stunt casting in this one.
ABC – 10:00 PM: CASTLE has to struggle for attention from BECKETT now that DEMMING is hanging around. Speaking of which has ABC got option contracts on most of the BATTLESTAR GALACTICA cast?
TUESDAY
FOX – 8:00 PM: OK AMERICAN IDOL this whole mentoring thing has got to stop. JAMIE FOXX mentoring the remaining contestants on singing songs from movies? Really? Now you’re stretching it. Why not RUSSELL CROWE, BILLY BOB THORTON or KEANU REAVES? They’ve all got bands, they just didn’t play a singer in a movie. Oh, wait, you want someone else who did the whole singer biopic thing? Bring in JOAQUIN PHOENIX instead or maybe DENNIS QUAID?
ABC – 9:00 PM: Tonight we see the touching story of When JACOB met SMOKEY on a very special episode of LOST.
FOX – 9:00 PM: OK, let me get this straight: KURT tries to butch it up, PUCK shaves the mohawk and RACHEL can’t sing on tonight’s episode of GLEE? Wow, this doesn’t scream filler at all!
WEDNESDAY
TheCW – 8:00 PM: OMG! It’s the two hour finale of AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL and I’ve not watched a single episode! Why start now, right?
BC – 9:00 PM: OK, this week the MODERN FAMILY actually gets to Hawaii instead of just travelling there and just like last week I’m rooting for PHIL to find the cursed tiki idol to make my world complete.
NBC – 9:00 PM: MERCY has it’s season finale tonight and it’s ranked in my viewing schedule just behind AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL. Oh well.
THURSDAY
CBS – 8:00 PM: The penultimate (kind of) episode of SURVIVOR: HEROES VS. VILLAINS airs and we I’m wondering if RUSSELL makes it to the end or did PARVARTI eat him alive?
TheCW – 8:00 PM: It’s spooky night done right on TheCW with the season finale of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES followed by the looming apocalypse on SUPERNATURAL.
NBC – 9:00 PM: Tonight is all filler on THE OFFICE until next week’s return of KATHY BATES.
FOX – 9:00 PM: Wow, I could use penultimate twice tonight because the the first part of the FRINGE season finale is tonight as well. It’s a two parter so next week won’t make much sense without tonight but it’s still the next to last episode to air for the season so I’m saying it’s the penultimate. I sure hope I’m using that word right.
FRIDAY
TheCW – 8:00 PM: Well we’ve waited all season to find out just how CLARK is going to deal with the Kandorians on SMALLVILLE and it’s finally here. The solution he sought and found last week results in all Kyrptonians being banished from Earth so I’m dreading a finale where it seems that CLARK is gone (again).
CBS – 9:00 PM: I only bring up tonight’s episode of MEDIUM because I once again wanted to say penultimate. So yeah, this is the penultimate episode for what could be the final season of the series.
SATURDAY
BBCAMERICA – 8:00 PM: OK, so maybe your TARDIS was a bit wibbly-wobbly and you missed last week’s first part of this awesome two-parter of DOCTOR WHO. Guess what? Tune in at this time and you can catch THE TIME OF ANGELS before the 9:00 PM airing of the second part FLESH AND STONE. Two hours I have no fear in recommending.
NBC – 11:30 PM: How do you follow-up the stellar BETTY WHITE performance on SNL? Two words folks: ALEC ‘MOTHER TRUCKIN’ BALDWIN.
SUNDAY
CBS – 8:00 PM: Grab a bowl of popcorn and sit down as CBS tries to dominate the night with the season finale of SURVIVOR: HEROES VS. VILLAINS. After the two hour finale you can even stick around for the reunion special right after.
FOX – 8:00 PM: The FOX network refuses to bow before SURVIVOR by rolling out another appearance of SIDESHOW BOB on tonight’s episode of THE SIMPSONS.
ABC – 9:00 PM: The explosive season finale of DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES hits as we see LYNETTE finally learns the down side of befriending a serial killer and the entire BOLEN business is finally put to rest.
HBO – 9:00 PM: It’s the final episode of the amazing World War II miniseries THE PACIFIC tonight. I hope no one spoils how it ends for me!
ABC – 10:00 PM: You hear that folks? It’s my sigh of relief at the fact that another season of BROTHERS & SISTERS comes to a close and I know there’s one less show on the DVR that I won’t be watching.
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