Critical Outcast: A Television Viewer's Diary: 10/16-10/22: Veronica Mars

WARNING: The free form ramblings continue, be prepared for run-ons, incomplete thoughts, and atrocious punctuations. This is what happens to a mind on TV, it's not pretty, but kind of fun.

My apologies for the lateness.

Best show I watched this week: Veronica Mars
Worst show I watched this week: Drawn Together

Sunday 10/16.

Crossing Jordan (NBC 10pm). This episode features a new character, a weaselly reporter who manages to get close to Jordan to get a story. Jordan tries using him to expose the despicable medical care at a privatized prison. Not sure I like the new guy, but it was a decent episode. ***
Desperate Housewives (ABC 9pm). This features Gabrielle needing to satisfy some urges, which features a brief cameo by wrestler Bill Goldberg. Lynette's son has an imaginary Mary Poppins like friend. And the disappearing Zach sure was easy to find. This season is nowhere near the level of the first, but still entertaining. **.5
Grey's Anatomy (ABC 10pm). Kristina refuses to stay in bed, instead roaming the hospital in a wheelchair trying to help. Addison and Derek start hashing out a potential divorce. Meanwhile Meredith's mother continues her recovery. This series is picking up some decent steam. ***

Monday 10/17.

WWE: Monday Night Raw (USA 9pm). The show opened Vince coming out to talk about JR's firing. Coach is announced as the new lead announcer. Afterward,Kurt Angle tries to get Vince to name him the number 1 contender, but is interrupted by Hurricane. This turns into a quick squash for Kurt. The first match was a contender match for Taboo Tuesday pitting Edge against the Big Show. It was a decent match, then JBL's music hits and distracts Edge allowing Show to win. Next up was Carlito's Cabana with Mick Foley who talks about JR, then Linda interrupts with a message for JR. Then back to the verbal sparring of Mick and Carlito about being cool. It ends with Mick announcing Carlito vs HBK for tonight.The match turned out to be pretty good with HBK winning. After the win Flair came out and called out HHH, who he chased off with a bat. Then there was a women's match Victoria, Torrie, and someone whose name I can't recall against Trish, Ashley, and Micky James. Micky screwed up and lost the match. Then Austin showed up, calling out the McMahons. Stephanie comes out and has a nice little chat, that leads to an offer of Stone Cold vs Coach at Taboo Tuesday with JR's job in the balance. The final match was an 18 man battle royal featuring the return of Kane, who do you think won?
Surface (NBC 8pm). Nimrod's dog eating incident is leading to more problems, especially when he gets loose in a grocery store. Meanwhile Laura and Richard are following the creature that she had tagged previously. Which leads to more attention from Cirko. ***
Las Vegas (NBC 9pm). Sam is dealing with a new supervisor. Ed is tracking an impostor, and Mike has to find away to retrieve the Aston Martin he borrowed, that got stolen. Still high on the guilty pleasure list.

Tuesday 10/18.

My Name is Earl (NBC 9pm). Earl gets a job teaching English to immigrants, when a past friend, played by Giovanni Ribisi, shows up. Earl tries to be nice, but his pal refuses to give up his stealing. This leads to a tied up situation, which has karma step in to save him. This is a very funny series. ****
The Office (NBC 9:30). Halloween has arrived at the company, but Michael has to let someone go, who will it be? The guys all show off their costumes, including the 3 hole punch version of Jim. Anyone who has worked in an office will love the humor here, or maybe identify with it too much. ***.5
Supernatural (WB 9pm). A shape shifter is on the loose. Shedding skin and taking lives. This series is performing above average in my estimation. This one was fun pitting the brothers against each other. ***.5

Wednesday 10/19.

Lost (ABC 9pm). Not one of the better episodes of the season, but still not bad at all. Michael makes some new friends as he heads off into the jungle in search of Walt. Sun is looking for her wedding ring and Sawyer and Jin are leading the other survivors to camp. We also get a glimpse into Jin's past, before the crash. ***
Invasion (ABC 10pm). Frankly, I don't recall much of this episode. I will say that it needs to pick up a bit.
Veronica Mars (UPN 9pm). In order to make some quick cash, Veronica takes on a case investigating a potentially unfaithful fiancée. She discovers a little more than she bargained for. Keith is trying to chase of an ex boyfriend, who is also Wallace's father. This show is continuously on the rise. ****
Over There (F/X 10pm). The penultimate episode features the inclusion of inexperienced Iraqi soldiers. This leads to close calls and heated tempers as the inexperienced soldiers cause problems for our crew. Bo finds his father and pummels him. Great show. ***.5
South Park (Comedy Central 10pm). The new season is here, and so are the political jabs. This episode deals with an accidental flood and who actually caused it. Terrorists? No. Communists? No. Chinese Radicals? No. George Bush? No. Cartman? Maybe. ***
Drawn Together (Comedy Central 10:30). I remember liking the first season, but this episode didn't really do much for me. It centers on finding a new roommate when Toot goes missing. They find a replacement in a Little girl who slaughtered one of the other guys race. *

Thursday 10/20.

Everybody Hates Chris (UPN 8pm). This show has been a big surprise this season. A family comedy that is smart and funny. This episode features Chris and his new bike, plus some bullies up the block. ***.5
Smallville (WB 8pm). Aquaman has arrived in Smallville, and I'm not sure I care. It could have been an interesting face off, but the guy playing AC was awful. It dragged down the entire episode. On the plus side we do have James Marsters as Brainiac, looking much older now. **.5
Alias (ABC 8pm). Sloane is waiting to find out what his sentence shall be, again. The chances he gets are amazing. Meanwhile, Syd and Rachel attempt to gain information on Dean's organization, until he finds out Rachel is alive. ***
Night Stalker (ABC 9pm). I think my biggest problem with this series is the lack of any real buildup. It doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Oh yeah, I'm also not all that crazy about Gabrielle Union's character. **
CSI (CBS 9pm). The team is investigating a potential triple murder. The only problem is there don't seem to be any dead bodies. ***
ER (NBC 10pm). The addition of John Leguizamo appears to be a good one. This intelligent doctor is keeping everyone on their toes. Kovac is helping a coma patient regain her life after waking up. Good stuff. ***

Friday 10/21.

Ghost Whisperer (CBS 8pm). Still managing to hold my attention. This week has Melinda trying to help a trio of dead orphans who still reside in their long closed orphanage, which is about to be torn down by someone the boys new in a past life. ***
Threshold (CBS 9pm). There may be a leak in the team, somehow information has made it's way to the House and the newspaper. Molly has to plug the leak before the information starts a panic, meanwhile there may be a case of tainted fish that is turning people in Maine. ***
WWE: Friday Night Smackdown (UPN 8pm). The show starts off good with a US title match between Benoit and Booker T. It was a good match with a scary moment as Benoit did a suicide dive through the ropes and awkwardly hit the announce table. Booker T wins the belt after unseen interference from Sharmell. Matt Hardy made an inauspicious debut, defeating Simon Dean. JBL vs Rey was next, but was interrupted by Edge's music, who jumped the rail and speared Rey, only to be chased off by JBL, but then Chris Masters locked the masterlock on Rey. Lashley then took on Vito in the second squash of the night. This was followed by the announcement of the new junior division, populated by little people, which also involved another appearance by The Boogeyman. Next was an old school WWF style hardcore match with Hardcore Holly and Sylvain. The night ended with a tag match of Batista and Guerrero vs Randy Orton and Mr. Kennedy. Decent match, with Kennedy's continued push. Decent show. **.5

Saturday 10/22.

The Batman vs. Dracula (Cartoon Network 8pm). This was a pretty good first outing for this animated incarnation of the Bat into the feature length realm. Revolving around the resurrection of Dracula and his using of Penguin as his harbinger. The people of Gotham fall quickly to his bite, while The Bat searches for a way to come out on top. ***
TNA: Impact Wrestling (Spike 11pm). A good alternative to the WWE. This week featured the debut of Samoa Joe, a big guy who can do some ungodly things. There was also a good tag title match which saw The Naturals lose the belts to America's Most Wanted. The main event saw a six man tag match featuring Abyss, AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy. ***

To be dropped from the "To Watch" list:

Shows on the bubble: