TV Roundup

Premiere week isn't until next week, but there was still enough new content this week to warrant a post.

House: The cranky doctor is back and the premiere is ... just ok. I personally thought the House/Wilson stuff was fantastic, but the patient of the week and everything surrounding her was pretty 'meh'. It'll be interesting to see how long they play out this House/Wilson stalemate. Given how well defined these characters are, this latest blow to their friendship should keep them strained for a while, but you know the writers and the viewers will get impatient and want to see them conversing in their usual banter before long. Back to the POTW, I never care for the ones that have to directly influence the doctors' personal lives. In this case it was 13. You know it's funny...for a character who's supposedly created to be this enigma, we sure know more about her than we do the other two newbies. I like 13, but we already had a pretty girl with issues in Cameron, so why do we need her. At some point, the writers are going to need to address this issue and eliminate some people.

Fringe: This week's second episode earned it a permanent spot on my DVR. The pilot had some pacing issues and wasn't the most captivating television. A lot of it felt like a been there done that. However, now that I'm beginning to see how a typical episode will play out, I feel a little bit better about the show. What really works for this show is the cast. Each of them are unique and make you interested in what they are saying and doing. I also like the fact that this show is trying to make its episodes more stand-alone and not be bogged down by some grand mythology. Yes, there is this whole "The Pattern" business, but I think it's just a unifying theme rather than some elaborate mystery. As long as they can keep coming up with unique scientific anamolies I'll remained hook. I do have one plea to the writers though: Please don't try to create some romantic tension between Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv. We saw it on X-Files, Bones, and all sorts of other shows like this. Please don't fall into that trap. It's not needed on a show like this.

Mythbusters: Another fun episode this week, although not a oddly engaging as last week's phone book friction episode. The water stun gun seemed doomed from the beginning based on the science of the matter, but I still enjoyed seeing Jaime and Adam go through all the different ways to try and make it happen. Jaime really seemed into this myth and whenever he's excited about one, it makes for a better episdoe. With the fire myths that the build crew took on, again, there wasn't much in the way of surprising results. Rather, the fun was in watching the reactions of the team to the results. The way the team was shocked by the fire extinguisher explosion was hilarious. And as for the walking on hot coals, I think we've seen enough people do it to know it's not something mystical. Still, it was damn funny seeing Adam not know the proper way and get burned in the process.