November 29, 2005

A Television Viewer's Diary: 11/20-11/26: 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.

Best show I watched this week: Veronica Mars
Worst show I watched this week: Medium

Sunday 11/20.

  • King of the Hill (Fox 7:30). The Hills discover that Arlen was founded as a town of prostitutes. The Council decides to play up that aspect, with disastrous results. Not horrible, but I don't know why I bothered to watch. **
  • The Simpsons (Fox 8pm). Homer gets all hyped up for his Father's Day gifts (episode seems to be oddly timed?), and ends up alienating Lisa. He tries to win her back by becoming the Safety Salamander and running for Mayor. Yawn. **
  • The War at Home (Fox 8:30). Why must it be so easy to tape this with the rest of the Fox stuff I watch? This week the daughter and her friend get drunk, get yelled at by parental units, and parental units reveal their hypocritical ways. Meanwhile, the son breaks up with his fat girlfriend and the young son shoots a pigeon. *
  • Family Guy (Fox 9pm). Peter tries to connect with Stewie, and in doing so goes on an escalating rampage against Lois, culminating with dumping her in the lake. Meanwhile, Chris is pressed into service, helping the creepy old guy do yard work. Not among their best, but still funny. ***
  • American Dad (Fox 9:30). Stan tries to convince his daughter that guns are good, and the journey takes them to both sides of the issue, especially after Stan is paralyzed by a gunshot. Roger makes Steve believe that he is adopted. Not too shabby. ***
  • Desperate Housewives (ABC 9pm). One of Carlos' prison buddies is released and sent to help Gaby grieve the loss of her child. That buddy is played with great sentiment by Danny Trejo. The Scavo's try to teach the twins about not talking to strangers. Bree doesn't want to be seen with an engagement ring, and Caleb is finally captured. Not bad, but this season does not have the spark that season 1 did. ***
  • Grey's Anatomy (ABC 10pm). Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year, especially for the dysfunctional. Izzie is having a rough time making the turkey, Cristina and Burke arrive to make it a little more awkward, until Burke shows he can cook. Cristina bails looking for booze. George is taken on a hunt t by his family to kill a turkey, and Alex, Meredith, and Derek try to stay in the hospital. Everyone ends up at the hospital, proving their lack of out of workplace social skills. Not much story wise, but a fun episode for the holidays. ***

Monday 11/21.

  • WWE: Monday Night Raw (USA 9pm). ***
  • Surface (NBC 8pm). Miles mourns Nimrod, and ends up finding a whole herd of the little critters after a fisherman turns up dead, with Nim as the prime suspect. Meanwhile, the submersible has sunk to the sea floor and the occupants frantically try to find a way to get to the surface. My thoughts on this series are growing mixed. Some of it is interesting, but it often feels to lightweight to be all that worthwhile. **.5
  • Las Vegas (NBC 9pm). Guilty pleasure alert. This week has Sam enlisting Delinda in the hopes of obtaining the black book from a deceased host. Danny is trying to fill Ed's shoes and fend off the demands of Monica. The con in the casino is a Rain Man like savant counting cards at the behest of a casino-worker. The twist has Danny calling Dean Cain to try a takeover of the Monticito. The show ends with Monica confronting Danny and getting literally blown off the roof of the building. ***
  • Prison Break (Fox 9pm). The escape looms ever closer and dissension grows within the little group. Events on the outside bring Westmoreland and T Bag to a confrontation from which someone may not survive. Questions loom over Michael and what information he gives to whom. Lincoln then gets tossed in the show, placing the whole plan in jeopardy. Also a new inmate is recruited to spy on Schofield. ***.5
  • Medium (NBC 10pm). I gave up on this awhile back, but was lured back by the promise of 3-D. Red/Blue anaglyph 3-D sucks, period. It opens with a Rod Serling act-alike telling of the 3-D gimmick. It was as dull as ever, I almost turned it off more than once. It was some story about an artist accused of murder, who is a trust fund baby with a father who may be involved in an older murder. The 3-D comes in whenever she looks at one of his paintings and has a vision. Yawn. *

Tuesday 11/22.

  • Bones (Fox 8pm). A case from Booth's past is back. A man about to be executed has a lawyer who believes he may be innocent. Booth and Bones investigate, despite Booth not wanting to. As the investigation moves on, evidence is reevaluated and more murders are discovered. Good for the characters, if not the mystery. ***
  • House (Fox 9pm). House is accosted on the streets by an AIDS patient begging him for help. House, of course, has no interest. Soon enough, they are at the hospital, they also find that he is not dying of the AIDS, but something else is killing him. While trying to work on it, House is also trying to win back his ex, which is not going too well. House is full of his sarcastic quips and there is some extracurriculars between Chase and Cameron. This series is consistently entertaining. ***
  • My Name is Earl (NBC 9pm). This begins with Earl being beaten down by the handicapable boyfriend of his one legged former girlfriend. From there it moves to him trying to reconnect with his father, guest star Beau Bridges, and getting him to run for Mayor. Of course nothing goes as it should. This series keeps chugging along keeping the laughs coming. ***.5
  • The Office (NBC 9:30). This starts when the Arab descended IT guy arrives and Michael thinks he's a terrorist. From there it moves to Michael spying on email and finding that Jim is having a party that he wasn't invited to. Jim tricks Dwight into coming, to prove to his roommate that he exists. Then Michael crashes. Great stuff. ****
  • Supernatural (WB 9pm). The brothers head off on a job, a haunted asylum. A teenage couple decide to check out if the hauntings are true and are faced with more than they bargained for. Ghosts appear and seem to attack them. Sam and Dean off to the rescue, figuring out that the ghosts are trying to convey a message. The doctor was experimenting on them and they revolted. They find the doc's remains and end the horror. The show ends with Sam getting a call from Dad. I like this series. ***
  • Law & Order: SVU (NBC 10pm). A teenage girl goes to NY for an abortion, but ends up getting beaten within an inch of her life and losing the baby, the father being the key suspect. As the evidence unfolds, the girl becomes the primary suspect. This was good, but not one of their better episodes. **.5
  • Threshold (CBS 10pm). Debuting in it's new time slot, this show also has guest star Elizabeth Berkeley (Showgirls, Saved by the Bell) as the latest infectee. The episode revolves around the team trying to track her down. The problem is that she is the wife of one of the President's best friends. The intrigue continues.

Wednesday 11/23.

  • Lost (ABC 9pm). The two halves finally meet, but it isn't without some problems. Sayid is tied to a tree after trying to attack Analucia for the shooting of Shannon. Jack and Kate are hitting some golf balls. Echo arrives with he injured Sawyer, whom Jack promptly saves, using items from the hatch. The flashbacks give some insight into Analucia and her past as a police officer. Ana and Sayid come to reluctant terms, and the people are all reunited. ***
  • Invasion (ABC 10pm). The swamp is found to have been poisoned, so they bring in a dead alligator to dissect. Meanwhile, the secret meetings at the church are crashed, trying to find out what it is that is so different about them. This was a decent show, but I keep waiting for something really big to happen. ***
  • Veronica Mars (UPN 9pm). The mysteries continue. Veronica finds herself in a bind while investigating a plastic surgeon, only to be saved by non other than Logan. Keith Mars is looking to find who is planting toy school buses at a guys house, and finds that the message may be meant for him. This is one of the best shows few are watching. ***.5

Thursday 11/24.

  • Everybody Hates Chris (UPN 8pm). Chris sneaks over to a friends house, and ends up causing a rift between their respective fathers due to his being late. Meanwhile, Tanya keeps wondering where he is so she would have someone to blame her misdeeds on. This is a very funny series. ***.5
  • CSI (CBS 9pm). A man is found dead, in a dumpster outside of a restaurant. It appears that he had eaten himself to death. The investigation leads them to some competitive eating contests. They end up with the dead guy's sister's boyfriend, who the guy had escaped from. Turns out, he has a rare disorder where he is always hungry. Not a deep episode, but kind of fun. ***

Friday 11/25.

  • Ghost Whisperer (CBS 8pm). A dead bride is dead set on stopping her husband from taking a new bride. It is up to Melinda to find a way to bring peace to the upcoming nuptials. Will she be able to? Ask a silly question, of course she will! This was fun from the lightweight show. ***
  • WWE: Friday Night Smackdown (UPN 8pm). Decent final build up to Survivor Series, especially the Booker T v Chris Benoit match, and a pretty good diva match. ***

Saturday 11/26.

  • Sci-Fi Originals: Manticore (9pm). What would a war be like if we added a mythical creature? That was the spark that spawned this. Granted, it is better than the average Original, but it is nowhere near the tops of their debuts, like Cube or Dog Soldiers. Eh. **
  • TNA: Impact (Spike 11pm). Features a good promo with Raven, who will be on next week's episode. BG James comes out with 3 Live Kru to make a bid for a fourth member, Kip James, and wins. There is also a challenge laid out by Christian Cage to Monty Brown. There was also a very good match between AJ Styles and Chris Sabin. ***.5

To be dropped from the "To Watch" list:

Shows on the bubble:

That is all for this week.

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