Week 9/7/10 - Summer's Almost Over

SPOILERS: Warehouse 13, Covert Affairs

and especially of finales of White Collar, Eureka, and True Blood (separated from the other two)

Summer is clearly coming to an end, which is something I could've told you a month ago when I started classes again. This week brought 3 finales, and 2 pre-finale build up episodes, so I've got lots to talk about, but very little actual time to do it in. (Actually, negative time)

Plus, this blog is on Facebook now. Sweet.

Episode of the Week: Even with two excellent season finales, I'm giving this to non-finale Warehouse 13 episode "Vendetta"

Week of 8/30 - "Wait.......what happened to Eureka? And True Blood?"

SPOILERS: White Collar, Covert Affairs, Warehouse 13

That's right, I got played. I watched my shows, took some notes, and anxiously waited for the Eureka finale on Friday at 9. Course, I ended up not making it back from a meeting until 10, so then I was really bummed. And you know how to treat that kind of depression? Sweeney Todd. You stay up until 3 in the morning watching Sweeney Todd. I love that show/movie. So much.

Anyways, it wasn't until Saturday afternoon that I realized I might have missed something, but...wait for it...No illegal videos to be found. And you know why?

CAUSE IT'S NOT TIL NEXT WEEK.

Damn you SYFY. This always happens. You never tell us when shows are going on one or two week breaks. It's like making it through the day hoping you'll be cheered up by some stupid thing some politician did that Stephen Colbert is going to tell you about, only to get a repeat week with that one boring episode you didn't quite find that funny.

So then I calmed myself down by saying, it's ok, I'll wait for True Blood on Sunday and then add that to my reviews so they don't seem so sparse. And you know what? No True Blood.

CAUSE IT'S NOT TIL NEXT WEEK.

So, as you can tell I'm quite bitter...And I don't have many shows to cover, so I should have posted this last Wednesday. Apologies. Yes, I know it's about a week later than it should be.

Anyways, episode of the week goes to Cover Affairs, for "What Is and What Never Should Be."

Week of 8/23/10 - Summer Season Finales are Around the Bend!

SPOILERS: Warehouse 13, White Collar, Covert Affairs, Eureka

We're heading into the last lap of summer programming, and it shows. They're pulling out all the stops to make sure we're there when they pull out the cliffhangers that are supposed to last us 9 months till next May. To steal a certain company's catch phrase - I'm loving it.

Episode of the Week: Warehouse 13 "Merge With Caution"

Unless, you're an Auggie fan, in which case, it's Covert Affairs "Communication Breakdown"

Week of 8/16 - "The Week of Awesome Female Guest Stars"

SPOILERS: Warehouse 13, White Collar, Covert Affairs, and Eureka

Wooo I'm back at school!!!!!!

Yes, I'm that weird. I enjoy school. I also enjoy TV watching. And in between all the re-packing and driving and moving, I managed to watch most of my shows this week. (Still haven't caught up on SYTYCD though I know who won) Here we go...

Oh, episode of the week, purely by number of awesome guest actresses: Covert Affairs, "Houses of the Holy"

Week 8/9 - "What?! Hilarie Burton?"

SPOILERS: Warehouse 13, White Collar, Covert Affairs, and Eureka

Soooo very sunburnt. I had a lovely time at the beach, but now I'm in a rush and I still haven't caught up on SYTYCD, so this is going to be quick and to the point.

Episode of the Week: White Collar "Unfinished Business"

Edit: I accidentally had the wrong title for the White Collar episode...

Crossover Week (Week of August 1)

SPOILERS: Warehouse 13, Eureka, Covert Affairs, White Collar, and ... True Blood?

Ahhhhhhhh. All the packing and the finishing of work and the presentations and the papers and the partying and the not-sleeping and the driving and the unpacking and the crashing and the sleeping a lot.....................It's finally over. Just in time for me to almost be way too late to post anything. Apologies, but this is going to be short and sweet so that I can post it in time before tonight.

Also, I didn't watch SYTYCD this week; not enough time. I'll watch it before the finale though, don't spoil it for me please!

Week of 7/26/10 in Review - "Dear Sarah, We're Sorry"

SPOILERS: Warehouse 13, Covert Affairs, White Collar, SYTYCD, Eureka

(It's my last week in NY, so this is a bit late - however, my total boredom from returning home will make my future posts much more prompt)

After last week's less than desirable turnout, I was rather nervous to turn on the TV this time around. Especially for Warehouse 13; with the premiere fading from mind I was starting to wonder why I watched that show in the first place. Luckily, USA and SyFy heard my distress and seemed to give me an apology this week as I was blown out of the water by Tuesday's shows (which took until Wednesday night to catch up on....). Though the rest of the week did not quite follow suit, I was distracted by the Sanctuary Comic-Con trailer and therefore cannot really bring myself to be truly cynical and depressing about anything.

Who does the coveted episode of the week title go to? (Yep, just made that up on the spot)
Episode of the Week: Warehouse 13, "Age Before Beauty" (very, very closely followed by White Collar's "Copycat Caffery")

Week in Review: Overall, Not Bad, Not Great

SPOILERS: Last week's episodes of White Collar, Warehouse 13, Covert Affairs, SYTYCD, and Eureka

...and references to Jake 2.0 and the Middleman but I don't know if that counts as a spoiler

So, I've been watching Jake 2.0 all weekend, and I have to say, I'm halfway through the whole series and loving every episode. Of course, the fact that half the series consists of about 8 episode also makes me want to burst into tears. In other words I'm suffering from Firefly syndrome. Or, since it was in part written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and they didn't even ever air the last episodes, maybe it's Middleman-emonia. Horrible disease; symptoms include speaking in runon sentences and compulsion to curse using odd phrases like "Grapes of Wrath, Dubby!".

Anyways, last week's TV programming was in a similar vein; some good, some bad, all mixing for a thoroughly "eh" week.

On the bright side of last week, I saw A Little Night Music last Saturday, saw Promises, Promises this Friday, and I finally got my hands on a copy of Lord Sunday by Garth Nix. Oh, and I met Bill Nye the Science Guy. So you'll understand if I was a bit busy to do some posting. 

Note: If you didn't understand any of that, get to the googling! Or just wait till I post about them. Up to you.

Recycling - Good for the Environment, but TV?

Warning : this may approach venting proportions at times.

We see it all the time in movie theaters nowadays - remakes of old movie franchises, Broadway shows, and comics; all stories we've seen before which producers are determined to sell to us one more time. After all, why make something new when it's already a hit? It's even happening in video games - between last year and this year, it's been the era of sequels. Just look at Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Civ 4 and 5, Fallout 3 : New Vegas, Fable 3, Assassin's Creed 2, and Final Fantasy XIII.

Though some TV shows we always expect to see, like procedurals and teen dramas, we usually hold the hope that when a show promising innovation and quirkiness comes along, it will actually deliver. Look at Joss Whedon - that man does not know the meaning of cliche except when it comes to lamp-shading himself or others. And thanks to our relatively short attention span to TV shows, we have only maybe a decades worth of shows at a time to stand up to.

This whole issue has been brought to my attention rather painfully by my recent watching of a certain show for the first time. About a nerdy guy. Now, this guy, he fixes computers. Until one day, oops, something happens that isn't supposed to, and he has a computer in him that gives him unique abilities such that a secret spy team (as least in part comprised by the NSA) is built for him. Oh, and the computer can't be removed. Bye bye normal loser life, hello lying to everyone. Think you know the show?

It's not Chuck. Well it is. Chuck was premiered in 2007. You know what else it describes? Jake 2.0 (which was shown for one season is 2003).

Yeah. Not so original sounding the second time around. This summer I decided to watch Chuck since I'd heard so much about - and I found it fun, unexpected, and a really cool idea. However, when I posted about Covert Affairs, a friend of mine pointed out that Christopher Gorham used to be the star of a sci fi show I would like - Jake 2.0. And while watching it I thought...wow, it's Chuck. But older. And still really good.

Note: Jake Foley was played by Christopher Gorham. Which means he's been a tech guy for both the NSA and CIA. And he's damn good at it - even though his two characters are extremely different.

I could be ok with similar premises. (Think X-Men versus Heroes) But the most recent episode I watched, the third one, focuses on the manly action guy of the team, Kyle, and his past relationship with another spy. And you know what it made me think of? The Chuck episode about Casey and Karina.

So my question is, does anyone else know any shows like this? Should this not bug me this much or does this stop other people from watching new shows for the fear that they will not be anything new? And does anyone else agree that this is proof that the best super spies are incredibly adorable computer nerds?

Covert Affairs - "Pilot"

SPOILERS: Really? Do I need to even say it?

As I've already said more than a few times, if you're a James Bond fan, you need to be watching this show. I was totally uninterested up until a day before the premiere, when I saw a blurb about one of the character's (Auggie). When the night of the premiere came I didn't decide until 9:58 that I was going to watch it, mostly because Warehouse 13 had been a huge disappointment and I didn't want my night to end on a bad note. Totally a fantastic decision on my part. Go me.

(Unless otherwise cited, pics are courtesy of usanetwork.com)

EVERYTHING that I've been watching

SPOILERS: Since I'm catching up, most descriptions are vague, but they do cover recent episodes of Stargate Universe, Royal Pains, Burn Notice, Eureka, Warehouse 13, Covert Affairs, White Collar, and SYTYCD. Also a few crossover spoilers I've picked up.

...

Don't say I didn't warn you

Yes, I have lots of catching up to do. Part of my lack of enthusiasm for posting is because, to be totally honest, I'm a bit disappointed with summer programming so far. It's neither bad nor good, thoroughly not worth writing about. With one MAJOR exception. If you have ever been a James Bond fan, you should be watching Covert Affairs. Not to say you must be a James Bond fan to enjoy it, but for those of us who are it is absolutely wonderful, and though I watched the premiere on a last minute whim, I will be anxiously counting down the seconds until the next episode. But more to come later (as the newest show, it's at the end, and will probably get it's own separate review).