Critical Outcast: A Television Viewer's Diary: 10/23-10/29: Over There

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.

Best show I watched this week: Over There
Worst show I watched this week: Drawn Together

Sunday 10/23.

Crossing Jordan (NBC 10pm). This has the return of the reporter, who debuted last week. Together they investigate what appears to be a murder suicide. But of course, nothing is ever as it seem, and the facts slowly reveal themselves. Mediocre. **.5
Desperate Housewives (ABC 9pm). Wallace Shawn guest stars as the Susan's financially strapped, love-lorn agent. Bree has another burial ceremony for Rex. Not a bad episode, but not terribly memorable either. **.5
Grey's Anatomy (ABC 10pm). Meredith wants to be the only woman in Derek's life, a decision that he's not ready to make. Again, not bad, but not too memorable.

Monday 10/24.

WWE: Monday Night Raw (USA 9pm). The show opens with a triple threat match between HBK, Kane, and Big Show. HBK won after landing th Sweet Chin Music. Triple H comes down for a match, but that is interrupted by a fight with Flair. JBL shows up and calls out Chris Masters, which allows Mysterio to hit the ring and take out Edge. Mickie James came out to have a decent match with Victoria. Vince comes out and launches into this segment about JR's surgery. Too long, stupid and insulting. Gregory Helms comes out to watch Rosey get taken down in what was supposed to be a tag match. The main event was Cena vs Angle. It was OK, Foley was the guest referee, but both Carlito and Bischoff got involved to screw Cena. **.5
Surface (NBC 8pm). Are government thugs trying to take out Laura and Rich? They already got Cirko. The noose is tightening around this duo as they try to get the proof of the new species. **.5
Las Vegas (NBC 9pm). Sam's brother is dating the new owner, until she gets bored. Danny finds his late father's girlfriend. Of course, she turns out to be more than meets the eye, as does Danny's new girlfriend. ***
Prison Break (Fox 9pm). Finally returning after an absence for the Baseball post season. The search for Bob's killer is on. Michael plots the next move and runs into a bit of a snag. T Bag is insisting on joining the escape team. Meanwhile, those looking to save Lincoln are under attach by the VP. ***.5

Tuesday 10/25.

Supernatural (WB 9pm). This week, the brothers take on the Hook Man who is terrorizing a small town. The boys get in a bit of trouble before ultimately vanquishing the Hook, after finding the item that was made of his hook. ***

Wednesday 10/26.

Invasion (ABC 10pm). Fishing begins for the alien fishes. Derek starts making moves on Myra after giving up on Kira. I get the distinct feeling that this is another Invasion of the Bodysnatchers. ***
Veronica Mars (UPN 9pm). Veronica and Wallace's relationship takes a downward spiral as she tries to protect him from his new girlfriend. Plus, she appears on a psychic show to expose her, but instead, gets a message from Lily. Keith's quest for office takes a downward turn. ***.5
Over There (F/X 10pm). The first season concludes. Bo is getting his focus back. Dim is going through a personal crisis resulting in a personality change. Lieutenant Scream looks to get his CO transferred. The season ends strong. This is a great show. ***.5
South Park (Comedy Central 10pm). The girls are in possession of a future telling device. Cartman organizes the guys to steal it, sending Butters in undercover. Not terribly relevant, but still very funny. This series has exhibited some amazing staying power! ***
Drawn Together (Comedy Central 10:30). This series is going downhill fast. Spanky gay marries Xandir for the insurance. This is soon to be dropped from my list. *

Thursday 10/27.

Everybody Hates Chris (UPN 8pm). Halloween comes to the block. Chris is determined to go to a party, but first he has to take his siblings out to get candy. Better than the party stuff is Chris's father and his quest for a bargain and the cheap candy he gets. ***
Smallville (WB 8pm). Much better than last week. This revolves around Chloe writing a story to get a job at the Daily Planet. It also involves Lana joining a sorority which happens to be comprised of vampires. This leads to a lot of fun, and Kristen Kreuk in tight black leather. ***
Alias (ABC 8pm). The best part is Sloane and his endless supply of second chances. He gets reinstated to APO, on a limited basis. Syd and Grace deal with some mercenaries after the cannister. ***
Night Stalker (ABC 9pm). A series of mysterious deaths get Kolchak's attention. Could they be the work of a demonic child? Or is his father the guilty party. As much as I like the topics, this show is not really grabbing me. **

Friday 10/28.

Ghost Whisperer (CBS 8pm). Still entertaining. This episode features a troubled teen who is in search of the birth mother he never knew. Melinda has her work cut out for her on this one. Plus they consider selling the house they renovated. ***
WWE: Friday Night Smackdown (UPN 8pm). We open with Christian and the Peep Show, this ends up with a 5 way vote for me regarding Taboo Tuesday. This is announced to result in a 5 way match between Christian, Rey, JBL, Hardcore Holly, and Matt Hardy. Rey ended up on top. Next was the first match for the Junior Division. Complete waste, please make it end. A 4 way tag match with MNM coming out as the new tag champs. Nunzio and Vito campaign to be a tag team and Boogeyman makes another whacky appearance. Main event was Batista and Guerrero tagging with Rowdy Roddy Piper taking on Mr. Kennedy and the Ortons. Piper won with the sleeper.

Saturday 10/29.

Santa's Slay (Spike 7pm). What a steaming pile of corn this was. Bill Goldberg stars as Santa, who is actually the son of Satan, and the wager that kept him doing good is up, so he decides to dole out some death, including the pre-credit sequence where he takes out James Caan, Fran Drescher, and Chris Kattan at the dinner table. It falls from there.
Cerberus (Sci-Fi 9pm). A dull steaming pile from those guys at Sci-Fi. Boring story, bad effects and bad acting are the order of the day.

To be dropped from the "To Watch" list: