This Week in Television - Oct. 18-22, 2010

No Ordinary Family
This week's episode felt like it was trying really hard to be a sitcom. There were a lot of moments that I could tell were supposed to be funny but weren't because, like everything else about this show, they were bland and unoriginal. JJ only looked smaller than the other football players because he actually looks like a high school student, whereas the other guys were clearly in their 20's. And then he makes the football team because of ONE complete pass? Coach, don't you think you should make sure he can do it more than once, as well as test his abilities in other areas? That was even worse than Artie joining the football team on Glee. The only good scene was when Daphne tried to blackmail the variety store cashier and it didn't work because she had no proof.

Running Wilde
I didn't laugh too much at this episode, except for the scene where Steve and Fa'ad discuss their low scale "unnecessoirees" and then lapse into tiredness and Fa'ad steals the idea for a hooker-filled cocaine dome. That scene was great, but the rest of the jokes felt a little lazy and predictable.

Survivor: Nicaragua
Marty's story about being a Grandmaster in chess might have been believable if he hadn't added the part about beating a renowned player twice as a kid. But I guess that's irrelevant when you're talking to "Fabio". I didn't really understand the logic behind either of the votes in this episode, possibly because they edited it that way to make it surprising. Well, I suppose they only wanted to flush out Marty's idol and not vote him off, but I don't get how the other tribe would unanimously vote Eve after Dan kind of talked himself into a hole. Oh, and kudos to Jill for cleaning up at the challenge.

Community
So true that Professor Duncan would waste Anthropology time by showing Youtube videos in class. I know we've all spent hours watching movies in English class (and others, but mostly English) for no educational reason. With the leather pants and no beard, Abed looked more like Michael Jackson than Jesus, and I was expecting one of the characters to point this out but since no one did I guess it wasn't intentional. For an Abed storyline, though, it wasn't that great, although I found it funny when they were watching a rough cut and Star Burns - the editor, I assume - kept looking over at Abed to check his approval. And I liked Britta's line, "I don't even believe in God, but I love me some Abed."

30 Rock
Kudos for getting that one-take commercial filmed multiple times, unless they only did it once and then snuck a cut in there. Jack's solution for Tracy was awesome, and not unlike putting peanut butter on the roof of a dog's mouth for a talking animal movie. Liz's weird/gross/embarrassing stories are always great, and flashbacks of her playing her younger self are even better. Also liked all of the stupid cake typos, even if the bakery staff should've become suspicious at the same person constantly returning misprinted cakes (I know they made a point of mentioning there were two clerks, and that they were ordering from one and returning to the other, but nobody ever switched roles so they would've caught on.) P.S. Happy Blirthday, Jennica!

The Office
It's good that once in a while they do an episode like this, where Michael actually accomplishes something (in this case the hiring of Danny), because we need to be reminded that he does actually have some sales skills and that's why he made manager. Although it was also backhanded in that he "forgot about Packer", which might lead to an amusing firing (or at least a conflict between the two traveling salesmen) in a future episode. I like that Andy was bummed when Creed liked his song - even though Creed (both the character and the actor playing him) was part of a bluegrass band at one point, so he has musical abilities, it's probably not a good thing if Creed agrees with you on something. The best line in the episode was Dwight's about the "Penis Museum", where tickets are a thousand dollars.

Hero of the Week: Britta from Community, for the line above which was QUOTED FOR TRUTH!

Douchebag of the Week: Kelsey Grammer from 30 Rock, playing a version of himself that was pretty evil. FRAAAAJERRRRR!

JCVD

Impressions before seeing it
I am not a fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme. The only other movie of his that I've seen was the atrocious (and occasionally funny) Street Fighter: The Movie, and I am under the impression that his entire career is basically a cheesefest (though good for a laugh, I'm sure.) I wanted to watch this movie because I knew it would be something completely different from the rest of his work.

How was it?
Okay, I have to give credit where credit is due: Van Damme was excellent in this. Even with his English lines, and a lot of English-as-a-second-language actors aren't very good in English (again, see his previous work). But if you had never heard of Van Damme at all and watched this movie, you might think he was a renowned and well respected actor. Maybe part of the reason his performance works so well is because it's so surprising, like part of a master plan to build up a false sense of mediocrity with years of hokey action flicks and then suddenly bust out an Oscar caliber performance.

Anyway, in JCVD our title actor plays himself as he goes into a bank for money for his child custody battle and is soon taken hostage by bank robbers, who then place him in front so that everyone outside thinks he is the crook taking hostages. That part reminded me of Amos and Andrew, but in this case it is revealed through some non-linear editing and multiple viewpoints so I didn't mind. On the other hand, the whole hostage situation wasn't many notches above average, but the movie turned out to have other redeeming qualities.

There is a scene during Van Damme's court case where his daughter, on the witness stand, says "Every time my dad is on a TV show, my friends make fun of me." My first reaction to that was to laugh, but it was also a very sad moment for his character, both personally and professionally, and most of all there is probably some truth to it. Later, Van Damme takes a little break to float up out of the movie (literally) and directly address the camera with a single-take monologue that is honest, personal, emotional, beautiful, and exceptionally delivered. Although I was enjoying the movie up to that point (I love me some French cinema!), the honesty of the monologue and his daughter's quote are what single-handedly saved it. You hear of actors poking fun at themselves in comedies all the time, but here Van Damme is simply poking.

Recommendation
I imagine some people would need an open mind to even want to watch this movie, or at least think they need one, but here Van Damme is not an action star, but an actor, and that makes all the difference. I would at least recommend looking up the monologue scene on Youtube.

This Week in Television - Oct. 11-15, 2010

No Ordinary Family
Funnily enough, after my complaint last week I don't think the word "family" was said even once this episode. This show still fails to do anything new though, and the storylines this week were all quite predictable, but I forgot to mention last week that I like the idea of Stephanie's healing powers, because it would make things more interesting if everyone turned out to have more than one power (for a moment when Jim started leaping across the city I thought it was a new power, but I guess it can just be attributed to super strong leg muscles. Maybe Stephanie's healing is simply an extension of the same power as well since it's rapid and all). Also it bothers me to see grappling hooks because I'm pretty sure the only people who use them in real life are rock climbers, and even in a show with super powers I can't accept it.

Glee
Ugh, too much high school relationship drama and not enough Sue Sylvester. And if Rachel and Finn wanted Sam to win, why wouldn't she just team up with Sam instead of throwing the competition? I would think one of them would at least suggest it.

Running Wilde
Puddle's voice was not needed to tell us that the kid thought Emmy was hitting on him or that his dad (Andy Richter) thought Steve was hitting on him. But I'll forgive it for the disturbingly funny car wash scene and Fa'ad's unintentional but dead-on Alan Alda impression.

Survivor: Nicaragua
Why were they arguing over whether to eat a chicken? I mean, yes, it would cut down egg production, which is why they could have eaten THE ROOSTER that came with the two hens. Either they already ate the rooster and edited out that fact, or nobody knows anything whatsoever about chickens. Also I didn't appreciate Jeff commenting on how surprised everyone looked at the tribe swap, because a) it was like Survivor trying to proclaim how brilliant it is, and b) it wasn't surprising in the least to us as viewers because we saw it in the previews. A twist isn't much of a twist if we know it's coming! I would honestly be more surprised if they advertised a twist and then didn't have one.

Community
Wow, more KFC after Running Wilde's stunt last week. But this episode was awesome. I love when Community parodies a genre, in this case Apollo 13 type space movies. I was kind of expecting SANDERS to go crazy like HAL, but instead it was Pierce. And cardboard box spaceships: priceless.

30 Rock
There wasn't much point in doing a live episode. Mostly it just added a laughtrack, which is never needed, but I did appreciate some of the gags that poked fun at their own gimmick. I guess what's supposed to be "exciting" about live shows is that someone could crack up or have a wardrobe malfunction, which were both teased in the storyline but the cast was professional enough that neither one actually happened.

The Office
I saw the preview for this episode and it sounded like a fun concept, and it was to an extent, but it just kind of felt like one long joke instead of a collection of jokes. But it was cool to catch up with Michael's old flames, and funny that he was meticulous enough to include Oscar because of the kiss from four seasons ago. Michael's phone conversation with Holly was cute - she is one of very few people who gets him - and it's always great to see Dwight being so gullible when people are joking about a car crash.

Fringe
Cool, Broyles finally got to do a little ass-kicking! After this episode I am appreciating the parallels between the Olivias, both of them struggling with what pretending to be the other is doing to them, and a third parallel in this episode with the shapeshifters coming to love their pretend families. Also every time Newton shows up I find it funny (and strangely appropriate) that he looks a lot like Chef Gordon Ramsay.

Hero of the Week: For the second week in a row, Michael Scott from The Office, for his message to Holly at the end of the episode. For years we've seen him misinterpret every one of his relationships, but this time he was finally right while Holly was sweeping a good thing under the rug because of her relationship with AJ.

Douchebag of the Week: The cop shapeshifter from Fringe (played by Paul Giamatti's brother!) for the speech he gave to his son. I know he meant well and was trying to soften the blow of what might happen to him, but I think "there are no monsters" would have been a better response than "monsters aren't bad".

Grindhouse

Impressions before seeing it
I missed this in theaters and refused previous DVD releases because they split up the two movies, but recently they finally released the entire Grindhouse package in one. I had been looking forward to it for a long time after the Tarantino/Rodriguez team had given us Sin City.

How was it?
Of the two films, I think Planet Terror is the one that relies more heavily on the Grindhouse gimmick. The scratchy old film look is very prominent, there's plenty of violence, sex, explosions, and cheesy lines, and it's slightly more fantasy based. I'm not saying that's a weakness, it adds to the entertainment value (or rather it is the entertainment value) and the '70's feel, even if there are text messages involved in the story. I'm not huge on zombie stuff, and the infection was somewhat zombie-like, but I didn't mind because the movie was just a fun, campy ride.

Death Proof works a little differently. The film scratches were barely noticeable here, and a large majority of it is just the characters talking, but that's not a weakness either because of Tarantino's impeccable ear for dialogue. Additionally, I'm glad he went in a different direction than Rodriguez because it might have gotten tiring to see him use all of the exact same tricks we just saw in Planet Terror. But the scene in the hospital was a nice way to tie both movies together, and the ending was funny in its abruptness. I have one small gripe, and that is that when Stuntman Mike was trying to knock Zoe off the hood of the girls' Challenger, it seemed like they had several opportunities to stop the car and let her get off and back inside, but they never did. Although I understand that it's a movie and that would be a less exciting solution, so I get why it didn't happen.

Recommendation
Neither film really has any substance, but I think Grindhouse movies were meant to be fun, not artistic or profound. This is a cool, fun package with a big cast of actors, not to mention the awesome fake movie trailers before the films. However, after watching some of the special features, I realized there was missing footage I hadn't seen, and I'm not talking about the intentional "missing reel" gags. The individual movie releases contained extended versions of Planet Terror and Deathproof, but I buy the SPECIAL EDITION of Grindhouse and they're only the regular theatrical versions? How is that fair?! So, yeah, if you want to see the extended versions you might have to buy them separately.

This Week in Television - Oct. 4-8, 2010

No Ordinary Family
The most annoying thing about this show is that every character says the word "family" about 10-20 times each in an episode. WE GET IT, IT'S A SHOW ABOUT A FAMILY! However this week's episode was less hackneyed than the pilot and I hope it continues to improve, but I still find myself not caring about the characters because they're boring and generic. I'm glad it wasn't the water that caused the super powers, because that would have been kind of a lame and easy answer.

Glee
Ah, the old religion debate. Sue made some good points except I believe that the separation of church and state is an illusion, because clearly a politician's religion is of major concern to the voting public, and that says it all. As silly as the "Grilled Cheesus" storyline was, Finn is dumb enough to buy into it so it worked in that sense, but I found myself more moved by Sue and her sister than by Kurt and his dad.

Running Wilde
Sneaky move, FOX, having a joke about Steve discovering KFC and then going directly to an actual KFC commercial. I like this show, but Puddle's narration isn't as good as Ron Howard's on Arrested Development, and I'm thinking it might get canceled before the season ends. P.S. Fa'ad has the same chest hair as Austin Powers.

Survivor: Nicaragua
I found it funny that Jimmy T. would refer to himself in the third person when stating whether someone is "a fan of Jimmy T.". Naonka is still crazy for seemingly no reason, but again I'm sure editing plays a part, and even with an idol I guarantee she will not win.

Community
I think this week's episode was season 2's "Social Psychology", meaning it felt a little off and wasn't quite as funny as the other episodes tend to be, at least to me. The Duncan/Chang forcefield thing was fun though, and I totally missed it but apparently there was another storyline going on in the background about Abed helping a pregnant student give birth, which becomes awesome when he shows up near the end of the episode to say that he hasn't been up to anything.

30 Rock
Loved Liz mispronouncing Donald Glover's name to make it sound more black, Rob Reiner saying "rhubarb, rhubarb, peas and carrots" into the mic like extras in a crowd scene, and Dotcom's cheesy sitcom (the talking dog had two dates, and they both showed up at the same time!) Not really a fan of Queen Latifah though, or of storylines involving Jenna.

The Office
I found it funny that Darryl was insistent on listening to the play's overture so that he would be able to recognize the musical themes when they come back later. While he has displayed an ear for music in the past, he didn't seem like someone who would care about musical themes in an amateur play. Also Michael acting out an entire episode of Law and Order as an audition for the play was awesome, and very well acted by Carell because he genuinely projected nervousness (and thus it was not well acted by Michael.) And how did Creed become a theater critic? Was there even anyone on the other end of the phone?

Fringe
I liked the "death by chain reaction" concept here - sort of like Final Destination, except not ridiculously over the top and actually caused by a person. It's also interesting if they're going to go back and forth between universes every other episode, although I don't know how long they can keep it up. If Olivia still retains some of her memories and has the ability to jump between worlds then I suppose it won't be dragged on too long.

Hero of the Week: Michael Scott from The Office, for his Law and Order performance, complete with musical cues.

Douchebag of the Week: Grilled Cheesus from Glee. YOU'RE NOT REAL!

Dexter - Season Three

It's appropriate that the title of the show is Dexter, not simply because he is the main character, but because the primary purpose of every season's arc is to explore who this character is beyond a serial killer. In season one, we learned about his dark past and how he learned to kill without getting caught; in season two, we saw him with his back against the wall and watched him shape his own opinions about himself. This season, we see what happens when Dexter tries to take on a partner, played by Jimmy Smits.

To me, the murders themselves are the least interesting part of Dexter. What I like about the show is watching him try to juggle his double life, and seeing how he handles it when he comes close to being caught. I usually don't like Jimmy Smits much but he did well here, beginning the season as an honourable man and ending it as an angry scumbag, only he was secretly the latter the entire time. As messed up as Dexter's emotions might be, it makes sense that he would give partnership a try, because it's a relief and kind of a joy to be able to share secrets with someone, even the darkest ones. And add to that Harry's post-mortem fall from grace so that Dexter is less inclined to do what Harry would do, and you got yourself a third season arc. I also appreciate that the supporting characters went in new directions too, with Angel becoming Sargent, Deb becoming detective, and Masuka trying hard to be taken seriously (for a little while anyway). LaGuerta, however, saw another man she deeply trusted and loved exposed as a murderer, probably scarring her for life at this point. Ah, well, I still don't like her.

Best Episode: I think I would go with "Go Your Own Way", in which Dexter and Miguel (Smits) are locked in a power struggle of threats and blackmail while publicly maintaining the appearance of a friendship. Also Masuka plans Dexter's bachelor party, which was more fun to watch than the party itself.

Battlestar Galactica - Season One

On a whim I decided to get into Battlestar Galactica, so I downloaded an episode and then bought the complete series on Blu-ray.

It started off a little slow, but after a few episodes I really got into it. This is not just a science fiction show, it's a smart and strongly acted character piece. I was particularly impressed with some of the scenes involving Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackoff as Adama and Starbuck, who grew to be two of my favourite characters (although I more or less like everyone except for Colonel Tighe, who is a drunken old douchebag.) Third favourite is probably President Roslin, who for some reason many of the characters have a problem with even though she is an intelligent and capable leader.

To be honest the plot isn't even that complex: in classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers style, there are evil robots (Cylons) who look, feel, and act human so that it's very hard to tell who is one, and the crew of the Galactica, the last surviving members of humanity as far as we know, are trying to fight them in order to make their way home to Earth, which to them is merely a myth because they're so far into the future. There are only 12 Cylon models, and in the first few episodes we are shown 4 (possibly 5 if the ones who don't look human count). I imagine the rest of the series will bring us many cool reveals on the other 7 or 8, and no doubt some will be people we've already been introduced to - for example, Leoben tried to tell Roslin that Adama was a Cylon but, assuming there is any truth to that, he didn't say which Adama.

So, yeah, I find this show impressive because sci-fi can sometimes be corny or heavily reliant on action and visual effects (not that Battlestar is lacking in those departments), but instead we get a whole lot of interesting characters and scenes that mess with our heads a little as Galactica tries to survive in the void of space. Nice shocking ending too, I'll probably start season two almost immediately.

Best Episode: "Flesh and Bone", in which Starbuck interrogates a Cylon and a lot of dodgy mind games are played.

This Week in Television - Sept. 27-Oct. 1, 2010

No Ordinary Family
I know ABC is owned by Disney but wow, this definitely felt like a watered down Disney project. Was the title "No Ordinary Family" meant to be ironic? Because I found the family to be incredibly ordinary and bland - except for the super powers, of course. And even in that respect the pilot fails to bring nothing new whatsoever to the superpower genre because everything in it has been done before in Heroes, The Incredibles, and all those Marvel movies (and in each of those cases, it was probably done better). In spite of this I might keep watching for a bit, though I don't even know why. I guess it's the nerd in me who enjoys seeing superpowers in action. I miss Heroes already.

Glee
This episode was dumb, if only because I don't understand why anyone would find it appealing to watch the cast of Glee do shot by shot remakes of Britney Spears videos (not to mention Rachel was singing "Baby One More Time" one or two octaves too high when the sluttiness of the song is meant to be accented by a low growl like Britney's). I mean the musical numbers on Glee are already largely unappealing and I still don't understand the popularity of nobodys singing famous songs that Glee and American Idol have cultivated, but now we have to watch them butcher music videos too? It was like watching that horrible show on MuchMusic where they give average people makeovers to look like singers and then remake a music video with them lip-syncing the song. At least Sue was awesome in the scene where she threatened to sue Mr. Schue after being injured in the "sex riot", and when she told Becky to be ready to make a citizen's arrest.

Running Wilde
I thought this week's episode was funnier than last week's. Good to see David Cross return, and I liked the running gag of Fa'ad seeming to subtly seduce everyone with his strange classy charms.

Survivor: Nicaragua
Whoever is editing these episodes together is making Naonka look like a cartoonish stereotype - not that she isn't, but I'm sure they're just throwing her worst moments together to make it look like she's like that all the time. So far I'm rooting for Jill on the old tribe, because she is one of the few people who hasn't said or done anything stupid yet.

Community
Drew Carey looks weird without all that weight. Good to see Rob Corddry though, I usually find him funny as the wild douchebag types he tends to play (as he did here). I suspect Chang has ulterior motives for wanting into the study group, which should be fun in a later episode when he finally makes it in.

30 Rock
The funniest part of Paul Giamatti's guest appearance was how the woman he had a crush on looked like she was from the '80's. Also enjoyed Jack's tapes to his future child and Kenneth wearing a Tracy mask (which actually fooled his drugged up wife). Season five is going well.

The Office
Michael trying to mess with Toby was fun, but it was kind of a nice moment when he made Toby laugh with his Gabe impression. I figured there was a good reason why Dwight wasn't allowed in that store, but I thought it would just be that he went during closing hours without realizing it. Hope Pam doesn't get busted. Pretty sure what she's doing is illegal.

Fringe
I liked this one better than last week's episode. I don't mind the weekly case formula as long as they include the continuing story as well, which they did. Now that Walter owns Massive Dynamic, maybe he can rein Nina in so she stops being so shady. Bonus irony points for shooting a deaf guy with a silenced weapon.

Hero of the Week: Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock, for being voted "Most" in his class at Harvard Business School. Rock on, JD!

Douchebag of the Week: Alan (Rob Corddry) from Community, for ratting out Jeff back in the day, and Jeff still did him the favour of convincing Ted (Drew Carey) to make him partner. Not cool, man!

Community - Season One

My history with Community is as follows: last year I watched the episode "Social Psychology" and was not a fan, so I didn't bother checking back. But because Community was followed by Parks and Recreation every week, I caught a lot of the "tags" at the end of each episode that featured the silly and brilliant comedy team that is Troy and Abed. This summer I decided to give it another shot, watching the final handful of episodes and then going back to the pilot (which then ended up feeling like a cool flashback episode about how the study group was formed) and continued in order on the DVD. "Social Psychology" is still the weakest episode of the season, but watching it again in the proper context made it slightly better.

I want to take a quick moment to point out how awesome the DVD is. When I bought it, I was able to enjoy it before even popping in a disc thanks to the creative packaging (written and doodled on by the show's lovable characters) and a Kickpuncher comic book written by Troy. Like the amazing menus on the IT Crowd DVD's, I love it when a DVD can offer more than just the episodes and some featurettes. Not that there's anything wrong with the simplicity of that.

As for the show itself, I shudder to think I almost missed out on this series altogether, because it turned out to be one of the most entertaining television shows I've ever seen. It may not always be hilarious - though most of the time it is - and when it isn't, that's perfectly fine because it's just so damned fun to sit in on these seven characters and their study group sessions. It's such a diverse group of people who would probably never be friends had they not all come to the same community college, and that is what makes it awesome. It's also interesting to see the changes in group dynamic when one of them isn't there, because it really shows what everyone brings to the table. It may have been Troy and Abed who convinced me to give Community another chance, but I stayed for the entire cast.

Best Episode: There are so many gems here, including "Contemporary American Poultry", a parody of mafia movies involving cafeteria chicken fingers; "Investigative Journalism", involving Jack Black as a student trying to force his way into the study group when nobody wants him there and nobody wants to do the deed of telling him as much (I'm sure we've all been in situations like that, I know I have); and "Beginner Pottery", in which no one in the pottery class is allowed to reenact the famous scene from Ghost. But those are my honourable mentions, because the crown jewel of season one is "Modern Warfare", a hilarious, cool, and spot-on parody of war/action movies as the students on campus play an intense round of paintball.