I can't say how glad I am to see the Amazing Race back on TV. It truly is an underrated reality show (although not in terms of Emmys, of which it has won 5 in a row). And as one team put it last night, it's also a love letter to the planet. Even in this, it's 12th season, they're still exploring new places that are fun to view as the watcher. For instance, last night's episode spent most of the time in Ireland and showcased it in all its emerald glory.
But of course, the show lives and dies by its team. It's clear we have another ecclectic group of racers this time around, but I'm not sure if there's anyone I immediately wanted to root for. There are your requisite bickering couples, (Nathan looks like he's going to be particularly brutal to his partner) as well as your eccentric couples (Goths! Lesbian ministers!!) The ones I find most interesting though are the familial pairings; this season has a brother/sister, father/daughter, and a grandfather/grandson. These teams never seem to do well, so I'll be quasi-rooting for them to at least go far.
While I can't get a beat on most of the teams, I can say with certainty that I was glad to see Ari and Staella be the first team eliminated. I've grown tired of the catty homosexual reality show contestant, so seeing Ari get the boot is fine by me.
So am I the only one watching this show or does anyone else have thoughts on the new season. Share anything you want, even if it's to bitch about how football is once again constantly going to screw with trying to DVR this show.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Are the Browns for real?
It sure seems that way after they were able to defeat a capable opponent (the Seahawks) in overtime yesterday. Right now this offense is firing on all cylinders and just can't be stopped. I still have a lot of concerns about the defense, but kudos to them for making the stops when they counted yesterday. I figured we were sunk when Seattle won the coin toss in overtime, but low and behold the Browns got a rare spot of the ball call overturned and then made a huge stop on 4th down.
If the Ravens are able to beat the Steelers tonight, that would put the Browns in a three-way tie for first place of the AFC North. It would also set up a huge matchup between us and Pittsburg next week. And after the beatdown they gave us in Week 1, you better believe we've got payback on our minds.
Just to show you how well the team is playing now, this is the first time since 2001 that the team has won three games straight. And we should be 6-2, had the Raiders not pulled that cheap tactic in the closing seconds of the game against us in Week 3. I don't want to get too overconfident, but this team is looking like it really is for real. Now let's just hope they don't have to give interviews saying they're "for real" over and over again (like a certain Canadian wrestler were supposed to forget ever existed) in order to prove it to the rest of the country.
If the Ravens are able to beat the Steelers tonight, that would put the Browns in a three-way tie for first place of the AFC North. It would also set up a huge matchup between us and Pittsburg next week. And after the beatdown they gave us in Week 1, you better believe we've got payback on our minds.
Just to show you how well the team is playing now, this is the first time since 2001 that the team has won three games straight. And we should be 6-2, had the Raiders not pulled that cheap tactic in the closing seconds of the game against us in Week 3. I don't want to get too overconfident, but this team is looking like it really is for real. Now let's just hope they don't have to give interviews saying they're "for real" over and over again (like a certain Canadian wrestler were supposed to forget ever existed) in order to prove it to the rest of the country.
The day the pen stopped moving
So as of today, the writers' strike is officially on. If you haven't heard, the primary issue of the strike revolves around the writers wanting more money from DVD and Internet revenues. I'm not sure who I'm exactly siding with here, but the most important thing is that it gets resolved ASAP.
The most immediate changes you'll see is the late night talk shows will all be in reruns for the time being. If this strike lasts for any length of time, scripted TV shows like Heroes and The Office will be affected around the beginning of the new year. If things really get out of hand, we could see it have an effect on the movie industry as well.
To keep you updated on all the latest develoments, I've put a couple of links on the sidebar of blogs that will be posting regular updates related to the strike. The TV Guide link in particular does a nice job outlining what changes we'll see in the major networks as the strike plays out.
The most immediate changes you'll see is the late night talk shows will all be in reruns for the time being. If this strike lasts for any length of time, scripted TV shows like Heroes and The Office will be affected around the beginning of the new year. If things really get out of hand, we could see it have an effect on the movie industry as well.
To keep you updated on all the latest develoments, I've put a couple of links on the sidebar of blogs that will be posting regular updates related to the strike. The TV Guide link in particular does a nice job outlining what changes we'll see in the major networks as the strike plays out.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Thursday TV
Just some quick thoughts on what I saw last night while I have a few moments of free time up on campus:
Survivor: Oh man, what an awesome conclusion to last night's show. After the disappointment of no one finding Yau Man's fake immunity idol last season, the fun of watching someone hand Jeff a bogus idol at tribal council was realized last night. As soon as Jaime found the faux idol I was praying that everything would fall into place for her to foolishly play it; and lucky for us the gods smiled upon us and delivered exactly that. I guess this is karma's cruel way of punishing Jaime for her giggle-fest two weeks ago while throwing that challenge. Probst made the whole event even better with the cavalier way he threw the fake idol into the fire and proceeded to tally the votes.
As for the rest of the episode, it was a typical merge episode. Gorging at the feast, faux friendliness between merging tribes, cockiness amongst tribe who has numbers advantage, etc. It seems that the original Zhan Hus will be picked off one by one now, but when you have wild cards like Jean-Robert, Frosti, and Courtney in the mix, I'd say it's anything but a given. BTW, can a human skeleton be a member of the jury? Because it looks like one stiff wind will blow away the remaining skin and meat left on Courtney's torso. That girl is vile to look at and listen to. What's Frosti thinking nuzzling up with that. He certainly can't be doing it to keep warm.
My Name is Earl: I was actually pretty disappointed with this hour-long effort. I missed the first COPS episode that they did, so I really can't compare the two. I just thought that a lot of the jokes either fell flat or were blatantly obvious. I enjoyed having an episode that got to utilize a lot of the other Camden weirdos, but their presence wasn't enough to salvage this. I also thought from a production standpoint that it could have looked a little bit more like COPS. Instead, it just came off as a bad, neutered version of Reno 911.
The Office: I enjoyed the episode and liked the story they did, but I didn't find it to be a very laugh-out-loud filled show. It had it's moments ("I think I cut my penis on the lid"), but didn't do as much as it could with the story. I also felt that the "finer things" club could have been executed better. With the way it was done, it just seemed odd and out of place. Given that Karen became branch manager of Dunder Mifflin: Utica, I wonder if that is their plan for the spin-off, especially if they think Rashida Jones' midseason sitcom isn't going to succeed. I have high hopes for next week's episode as its going to take Michael out of the office, leaving his underlings on their own. That setup has usually yieled some great episodes in the past (Office Olympics, The Client, etc), so hopefully they'll be able to do that again.
Didn't get a chance to watch CSI yet. If anything notable happens, I'll be sure to comment on it later.
Survivor: Oh man, what an awesome conclusion to last night's show. After the disappointment of no one finding Yau Man's fake immunity idol last season, the fun of watching someone hand Jeff a bogus idol at tribal council was realized last night. As soon as Jaime found the faux idol I was praying that everything would fall into place for her to foolishly play it; and lucky for us the gods smiled upon us and delivered exactly that. I guess this is karma's cruel way of punishing Jaime for her giggle-fest two weeks ago while throwing that challenge. Probst made the whole event even better with the cavalier way he threw the fake idol into the fire and proceeded to tally the votes.
As for the rest of the episode, it was a typical merge episode. Gorging at the feast, faux friendliness between merging tribes, cockiness amongst tribe who has numbers advantage, etc. It seems that the original Zhan Hus will be picked off one by one now, but when you have wild cards like Jean-Robert, Frosti, and Courtney in the mix, I'd say it's anything but a given. BTW, can a human skeleton be a member of the jury? Because it looks like one stiff wind will blow away the remaining skin and meat left on Courtney's torso. That girl is vile to look at and listen to. What's Frosti thinking nuzzling up with that. He certainly can't be doing it to keep warm.
My Name is Earl: I was actually pretty disappointed with this hour-long effort. I missed the first COPS episode that they did, so I really can't compare the two. I just thought that a lot of the jokes either fell flat or were blatantly obvious. I enjoyed having an episode that got to utilize a lot of the other Camden weirdos, but their presence wasn't enough to salvage this. I also thought from a production standpoint that it could have looked a little bit more like COPS. Instead, it just came off as a bad, neutered version of Reno 911.
The Office: I enjoyed the episode and liked the story they did, but I didn't find it to be a very laugh-out-loud filled show. It had it's moments ("I think I cut my penis on the lid"), but didn't do as much as it could with the story. I also felt that the "finer things" club could have been executed better. With the way it was done, it just seemed odd and out of place. Given that Karen became branch manager of Dunder Mifflin: Utica, I wonder if that is their plan for the spin-off, especially if they think Rashida Jones' midseason sitcom isn't going to succeed. I have high hopes for next week's episode as its going to take Michael out of the office, leaving his underlings on their own. That setup has usually yieled some great episodes in the past (Office Olympics, The Client, etc), so hopefully they'll be able to do that again.
Didn't get a chance to watch CSI yet. If anything notable happens, I'll be sure to comment on it later.
WikipediaVision
While surfing my usual message boards, I came across a link for one of the neatest and craziest things I've seen online. It's an real-time map showing every single edit that is being made on Wikipedia. If you're looking for a good time-waster, this is it. You'll find yourself becoming engrossed with what's being edited and from where. And as silly as the whole thing is, I think there is the potential for some research to come from something like this. I'm sure someone could make some correlations between topics being edited and the areas of the world that are editing them. Check this out for yourself: WikipediaVision
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The internets are playing a trick on me
First off, happy Halloween everyone!
Now with that out of the way, let me vent for a second. There were a couple of items I wanted to post on today and in looking for the videos that I wanted to include I came up empty. I think I may be losing my touch. Normally, I can find the videos I'm looking for within a heartbeat.
The first one I wanted was to recognize the passing of Robert Goulet. I was going to include his performance of "O Canada" from Wrestlemania VI, but that is nowhere to be found. I had no problem finding Reba McIntire singing America the Beautiful at Wrestlemania VIII, but there was no love for Goulet. So instead, here's a clip of one of Will Ferrell's hilarious performances as Goulet.
Then, I wanted to make a Halloween post and include the awesome commercial from Reaper that had Ray Wise's Devil dancing in a graveyard to the tune of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". No such luck again. Not only was it not on YouTube or any other video hosting site, but the CW didn't even have it on their own homepage. Way to drop the ball CW! A show like this could use a little bit more publicity. BTW, last night's episode may have been my favorite. I loved the idea of Hell shutting down on Halloween and I think Patton Oswalt's Leon needs to be a recurring character. So anyway, since the CW is being their typical clueless, unorganized self, here's a classic Halloween clip from The Office to celebrate All Hallows Eve.
If anyone happens to stumble on the clips I wanted, feel free to send me the links.
Now with that out of the way, let me vent for a second. There were a couple of items I wanted to post on today and in looking for the videos that I wanted to include I came up empty. I think I may be losing my touch. Normally, I can find the videos I'm looking for within a heartbeat.
The first one I wanted was to recognize the passing of Robert Goulet. I was going to include his performance of "O Canada" from Wrestlemania VI, but that is nowhere to be found. I had no problem finding Reba McIntire singing America the Beautiful at Wrestlemania VIII, but there was no love for Goulet. So instead, here's a clip of one of Will Ferrell's hilarious performances as Goulet.
Then, I wanted to make a Halloween post and include the awesome commercial from Reaper that had Ray Wise's Devil dancing in a graveyard to the tune of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". No such luck again. Not only was it not on YouTube or any other video hosting site, but the CW didn't even have it on their own homepage. Way to drop the ball CW! A show like this could use a little bit more publicity. BTW, last night's episode may have been my favorite. I loved the idea of Hell shutting down on Halloween and I think Patton Oswalt's Leon needs to be a recurring character. So anyway, since the CW is being their typical clueless, unorganized self, here's a classic Halloween clip from The Office to celebrate All Hallows Eve.
If anyone happens to stumble on the clips I wanted, feel free to send me the links.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Could The Office be expanding??
From TV Guide.com:
"If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, NBC may be about to pay a major compliment to Grey's Anatomy. Multiple sources confirm to me exclusively that the Peacock is developing an episode of The Office that would introduce several new characters who would then be spun off into a new series à la Private Practice.
However, unlike Practice, which stole Grey's regular Kate Walsh to anchor the new series, the proposed Office 2 is not expected to include any of the mother ship's core cast. In fact, producers are already casting about for a "name" to headline the potential show."
If the show is distinctly different from The Office it has a chance of working. But if this is just going to be The Office: Utica, I don't see the worth in doing this.
"If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, NBC may be about to pay a major compliment to Grey's Anatomy. Multiple sources confirm to me exclusively that the Peacock is developing an episode of The Office that would introduce several new characters who would then be spun off into a new series à la Private Practice.
However, unlike Practice, which stole Grey's regular Kate Walsh to anchor the new series, the proposed Office 2 is not expected to include any of the mother ship's core cast. In fact, producers are already casting about for a "name" to headline the potential show."
If the show is distinctly different from The Office it has a chance of working. But if this is just going to be The Office: Utica, I don't see the worth in doing this.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Mr. Perfect 2.0
I don't make much time for wrestling anymore (a combo of my busy life, a lack of major stars and their lazy storytelling), but when I read this in the Smackdown spoilers, I had to check it out. It's a jobber match with some worthless new tag team, but one of the jobbers just happens to be Mr. Perfect's son, Joe Hennig. He's only seen for a few seconds, but since he wears his dad's ring gear, you'll immediately recognize him. Looks like he inherited his dad's awesome bumping skills.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
RIP Jin???
Lost curse strikes again! Kim dinged for DUI
Given the track record of Lost stars who have been arrested for driving violations (Libby, Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko) could this mean the death of Sun's hubby? If I were Daniel Dae Kim right now, I'd be working on my resume.
Given the track record of Lost stars who have been arrested for driving violations (Libby, Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko) could this mean the death of Sun's hubby? If I were Daniel Dae Kim right now, I'd be working on my resume.
Trailer for new season of 24
Sure, last season of 24 was vastly underwhelming; so much so that it ended up turning off a lot of people on the show altogether. But hope springs eternal for me and after watching this trailer, I believe this show has the ability to fix itself. There are making a lot of changes (No CTU, the return of Tony, etc.) which we all hope are for the better. This appears to be the make-or-break season for 24, which is a weird thing to say considering it's their 7th season. Take a look for yourself and see what you think...
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Drew review
So we're a little over a week into the Carey era on The Price is Right and things are looking good thus far. Everyone will agree that he's no Bob Barker, but, in some ways, that's a good thing. I think for the livelihood of the show, Drew needs to find ways to make it his own. Trying to mimic Bob in style and mannerisms is only going to draw unfair criticisms.
It's been a little tough to truly gauge how well Drew is doing so far because they've been airing the episodes out of taping order. And it's become noticeable the difference between the shows he did in the first week and the ones he did a month into the job. The good news is that Drew has shown considerable improvement in the episodes that were taped more recently.
Drew's strength thus far has been his people skills. He comes off as an everyman and makes contestant feel very comfortable. At times, Bob was all about business, so it's nice to see Drew take the time to get to know the contestants a little bit more. Drew is also very funny and provides a lot of good one liners. Some may look at his jokes as disrespectful, but I enjoy the type of snark that he's brought to the show.
As far as weaknesses go, he still needs to work more on building drama with the games. When it comes time to reveal whether the contestant has won or not, he rushes through it and sometimes the player doesn't realize that they've actually won. He also tends to over-explain the rules of the games, but I have a feeling that will lessen in the coming weeks as he becomes more familiar with the games himself.
Given that there have only been a few episodes aired, Drew gets an Incomplete grade right now, but from what I have seen, I have hope that he'll be able to continue the tradition of America's favorite game show for a long time to come.
It's been a little tough to truly gauge how well Drew is doing so far because they've been airing the episodes out of taping order. And it's become noticeable the difference between the shows he did in the first week and the ones he did a month into the job. The good news is that Drew has shown considerable improvement in the episodes that were taped more recently.
Drew's strength thus far has been his people skills. He comes off as an everyman and makes contestant feel very comfortable. At times, Bob was all about business, so it's nice to see Drew take the time to get to know the contestants a little bit more. Drew is also very funny and provides a lot of good one liners. Some may look at his jokes as disrespectful, but I enjoy the type of snark that he's brought to the show.
As far as weaknesses go, he still needs to work more on building drama with the games. When it comes time to reveal whether the contestant has won or not, he rushes through it and sometimes the player doesn't realize that they've actually won. He also tends to over-explain the rules of the games, but I have a feeling that will lessen in the coming weeks as he becomes more familiar with the games himself.
Given that there have only been a few episodes aired, Drew gets an Incomplete grade right now, but from what I have seen, I have hope that he'll be able to continue the tradition of America's favorite game show for a long time to come.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Viva Laughlin the bell tolls for thee
Well that certainly didn't take long. After just two episodes the musical/drama/disaster Viva Laughlin was cancelled by CBS, making it the first TV casuality of the new fall season (and no, neither FOX's Nashville nor CW's Online Nation count. I mention this news not because I take glee out of their failure (although it is interesting to see once again that CBS only fails when it tries to think outside the box), but because starting Nov. 4 Viva Laughlin's time slot will be filled with the return of The Amazing Race!! From the news piece I read, some of the new countries the racers will be stopping in this season will be Ireland, Lithuania, and Croatia. Hard to believe this is the 12th edition of this show and they're just now visiting Ireland.
Monday, October 22, 2007
And now begins the long winter wait
***Before I begin the post, I just want to say that this is about the 5th post I've made today, so make sure you keep reading all the way down to read everything new that's going on with me.***
So last night the choke job by my Cleveland Indians was completed as the 'Sawks' pounded on us once again. I'm not sure if it makes me happier or more depressed that the Tribe kept the game close until about the 7th inning when things just fell apart. It would be easy to pinpoint our failure to go to the World Series on one individual, but really it was collective effort. There were multiple people who just couldn't deliver when the team relied on them.
Now as the off season begins, it'll be interesting to see where this team goes. On one hand, you could say that making it as far as we did would indicate we're just a tweak or two away from getting to the World Series. But given that we had many people underperform in these last few games makes you wonder if they should remain an integral part of the team. In general, I'm trying to stay as optimistic as possible. I truely believe that we have a solid nucleus of talent that we can continue to build around. And as disappointed as I am in us losing, I can't deny that the Tribe gave me and the rest of the city a lot of wonderful memories this season.
Still it's tough to watch Cleveland come so close to winning a championship again only to come up a little short. If you feel our pain, you're more than welcome to send sympathy cards and letters and/or donations to the "Wait 'Til Next Year" fund, in care of Adam Gutschmidt. Any submissions are appreciated.
So last night the choke job by my Cleveland Indians was completed as the 'Sawks' pounded on us once again. I'm not sure if it makes me happier or more depressed that the Tribe kept the game close until about the 7th inning when things just fell apart. It would be easy to pinpoint our failure to go to the World Series on one individual, but really it was collective effort. There were multiple people who just couldn't deliver when the team relied on them.
Now as the off season begins, it'll be interesting to see where this team goes. On one hand, you could say that making it as far as we did would indicate we're just a tweak or two away from getting to the World Series. But given that we had many people underperform in these last few games makes you wonder if they should remain an integral part of the team. In general, I'm trying to stay as optimistic as possible. I truely believe that we have a solid nucleus of talent that we can continue to build around. And as disappointed as I am in us losing, I can't deny that the Tribe gave me and the rest of the city a lot of wonderful memories this season.
Still it's tough to watch Cleveland come so close to winning a championship again only to come up a little short. If you feel our pain, you're more than welcome to send sympathy cards and letters and/or donations to the "Wait 'Til Next Year" fund, in care of Adam Gutschmidt. Any submissions are appreciated.
A fair to remember
The state fair was in town this week and I was able to go over the weekend with some of my friends and attend the festivities. This was my second time there since moving to NC and once again it was quite the cultural experience.
Now I've been to the city carnival many times when I was young and this is basically the same thing, only on a much grander scale. I still find it funny how there are so many people who attend the fair as if it was some big deal. You see the trailer park trash all dressed up as if this was the prom or something. Personally I wanted to burn my clothes after going there after being around all the farm animals and the litter that is strewn throughout the midway.
The day I went, the place was absolutely packed. That might have had to do something with the fact that Daughtry was performing there that day, but from what my friends tell me, it's always that full.
But the highlight for me every year is to see what new heart attack inducing foods they are selling each year. Beyond your typical elephant ears and corn dogs, the NC State Fair food vendors provide people with just about everything in a deep-fried format. Some of the traditional favorites are deep-fried Oreos, Twinkies, and cheeseburgers. Last year, they introduced deep fried Coke. And this year, they added deep fried Reese's peanut butter cups and deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Personally, I tried to stay as healthy as possible and only bought the fried apples.
Now I've been to the city carnival many times when I was young and this is basically the same thing, only on a much grander scale. I still find it funny how there are so many people who attend the fair as if it was some big deal. You see the trailer park trash all dressed up as if this was the prom or something. Personally I wanted to burn my clothes after going there after being around all the farm animals and the litter that is strewn throughout the midway.
The day I went, the place was absolutely packed. That might have had to do something with the fact that Daughtry was performing there that day, but from what my friends tell me, it's always that full.
But the highlight for me every year is to see what new heart attack inducing foods they are selling each year. Beyond your typical elephant ears and corn dogs, the NC State Fair food vendors provide people with just about everything in a deep-fried format. Some of the traditional favorites are deep-fried Oreos, Twinkies, and cheeseburgers. Last year, they introduced deep fried Coke. And this year, they added deep fried Reese's peanut butter cups and deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Personally, I tried to stay as healthy as possible and only bought the fried apples.
Cerebral and Anti-cerebral
With no baseball on Friday night, I managed to watch a pair of movies that had initially slipped through the cracks when they were originally released.
First, PBS aired the documentary Wordplay, which looks at crossword puzzles and the people addicted to them. Being a puzzler myself, I found a lot of the content to be fascinating. I also got caught up in the "drama" of the crossword tournament finals that served as the climax of the film. Whether intentional or not, I thought the film clearly created some heroes and villains amongst those participating in the tournament, which made it even more thrilling to watch how it would play out. My only complaint about the film is that I wish it would have either completely focused on the tournament or on those obsessed with doing crossword puzzles. Watching segments involving celebrities like Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton talk about their love for crosswords interspersed throughout the events of the tournament made it seem like they didn't have enough content to do a full movie on one aspect or the other.
Then after watching such an intelligent and provocative film, I went to the other side of the spectrum and watched Michael Bay's The Island. A quick backstory before talking about the film. I had a mild interest in this film when it came out in 2005. I ended up ordering it on demand after it came out on DVD and recorded it on DVD. After recording it, I tried on two or three different occassions to watch it and fell asleep each time about twenty minutes in. So I finally made it through the whole thing this time only to learn that there had been some problem with my cable when I recorded it and it didn't show the last 10 minutes of the film. Had the film been better, I would have been pissed. As it was, this was a disappointing failure. The first half hour of the film makes it seem like this is going to be an interesting science fiction film that is going to make some statements on our current culture as well. But after that, the film devolves into a silly, noisy chase film involving characters that we don't really care enough about. Given how the film was going, I didn't need to see the last 10 minutes to figure out where it was going. Thumbs down for me on this one.
First, PBS aired the documentary Wordplay, which looks at crossword puzzles and the people addicted to them. Being a puzzler myself, I found a lot of the content to be fascinating. I also got caught up in the "drama" of the crossword tournament finals that served as the climax of the film. Whether intentional or not, I thought the film clearly created some heroes and villains amongst those participating in the tournament, which made it even more thrilling to watch how it would play out. My only complaint about the film is that I wish it would have either completely focused on the tournament or on those obsessed with doing crossword puzzles. Watching segments involving celebrities like Jon Stewart and Bill Clinton talk about their love for crosswords interspersed throughout the events of the tournament made it seem like they didn't have enough content to do a full movie on one aspect or the other.
Then after watching such an intelligent and provocative film, I went to the other side of the spectrum and watched Michael Bay's The Island. A quick backstory before talking about the film. I had a mild interest in this film when it came out in 2005. I ended up ordering it on demand after it came out on DVD and recorded it on DVD. After recording it, I tried on two or three different occassions to watch it and fell asleep each time about twenty minutes in. So I finally made it through the whole thing this time only to learn that there had been some problem with my cable when I recorded it and it didn't show the last 10 minutes of the film. Had the film been better, I would have been pissed. As it was, this was a disappointing failure. The first half hour of the film makes it seem like this is going to be an interesting science fiction film that is going to make some statements on our current culture as well. But after that, the film devolves into a silly, noisy chase film involving characters that we don't really care enough about. Given how the film was going, I didn't need to see the last 10 minutes to figure out where it was going. Thumbs down for me on this one.
Quick TV roundup
Before we start another week of TV, let me quickly recap the highlights from last week and point out some questions that I'm left wondering about.
Heroes: Was last week a rerun, because it sure felt like I had seen all of that before. This show needs to get out of its creative rut in a hurry. Season 2, thus far, is severely lacking any focus and needs to create some sort of unifying mission for our heroes. I can only stand so many weeks of the Wonder twins temporarily killing people with Maya's crying power as they endlessly travel through Mexico. BTW, anyone else think that Parkman's dad (aka the Boogeyman) is NOT the one that through Mr. Nakamura off the roof?
Chuck: The show is finally getting its footing now that Chuck is going on missions. I loved his attempts to stop the "Wookie" from selling the diamond. I also enjoyed the various Bond references sprinkled throughout the episode. My gut is also telling me that we haven't seen the last from Katrina. Making her a recurring character could make for some interesting storylines. Speaking of recurring characters, we need more of the Nerd Herd!
Journeyman: I wish I could travel forward in time to figure out when we're going to get any sense of what's going on with Dan's ability. That way I would know whether to stop wasting my time with this show or not.
How I Met Your Mother and Aliens in America: Each of these episodes had their laughs, but were far from standout episodes. Now pressing issues with either of them. I mainly include them here as a way to promote other people to start watching them.
House: N/A due to baseball playoffs.
Reaper: Another fun episode that yielded a lot of laughs but still failed to break out of its formula. On one hand, the formula works, so I can't be too mad at them. Still, variety is the spice of life and this show could use to show that it at least has the ability to change things up once in a while. The Devil was still awesome this week, but we also saw that he knows how to perfectly get what he wants when someone tries to defy him.
Back to You: The initial problems with this show remain. The comedic talent on this show continue to be weighed down by the awful characters surrounding them. Like Journeyman, this show is on borrowed time.
Survivor: Only saw parts of it while flipping between it and the ball game. From the commercials, I figured each tribe would just steal the other's best players and for the most part I was right. Not sure how Sherea got chosen though. Also, how foolish of Zhan Hu to think they would just be stealing from the other tribe and not have to give anything in return. Idiots. They continued to show their intellectual ineptitude by throwing a challenge. Actually, I sort of see their rationale, but the way they went about it was all wrong. Plus, karma always has a way of getting revenge on people like this who try to throw challenges. Despite the remaining Zhan Hu thinking everything went according to plan, I don't see this having a big impact...yet. Aaron is no great loss and Fei Long still remains a strong threat even without him. This week it looks like someone will discover the hidden immunity. Given the way this season has played out, I wonder how long it will take before they tell the rest of the tribe that they found it.
CSI: Didn't watch because of the ball game. Anyone want to tell me if Sara accepted Grissom's marriage proposal?
My Name is Earl and 30 Rock: Of these two, 30 Rock was the clear winner this week. I get what Earl was trying to do with its creative writing episode, but it just felt a little flat to me. On 30 Rock, none of the three primarily storylines were really advanced, but they continued to deliver some LOL moments while telling them.
The Office: I'm so torn on this week's episode as I thought it was really well done but severely was lacking in the humor dept. Given the storylines they're dealing with right now, I suppose the somber tone was appropriate, but I wish they would go back to having more fun in the office. I may have said it before, but they really have entered into this parallel universe where Jim and Pam are happy and in love and everyone else is miserable. As much as I don't want to see anything ruin PB and J's relationship, I want Michael and Dwight back to their old selves as well. It should be interesting to see how much things change, including my opinions on the season, now that they go back to half hour episodes this week.
Heroes: Was last week a rerun, because it sure felt like I had seen all of that before. This show needs to get out of its creative rut in a hurry. Season 2, thus far, is severely lacking any focus and needs to create some sort of unifying mission for our heroes. I can only stand so many weeks of the Wonder twins temporarily killing people with Maya's crying power as they endlessly travel through Mexico. BTW, anyone else think that Parkman's dad (aka the Boogeyman) is NOT the one that through Mr. Nakamura off the roof?
Chuck: The show is finally getting its footing now that Chuck is going on missions. I loved his attempts to stop the "Wookie" from selling the diamond. I also enjoyed the various Bond references sprinkled throughout the episode. My gut is also telling me that we haven't seen the last from Katrina. Making her a recurring character could make for some interesting storylines. Speaking of recurring characters, we need more of the Nerd Herd!
Journeyman: I wish I could travel forward in time to figure out when we're going to get any sense of what's going on with Dan's ability. That way I would know whether to stop wasting my time with this show or not.
How I Met Your Mother and Aliens in America: Each of these episodes had their laughs, but were far from standout episodes. Now pressing issues with either of them. I mainly include them here as a way to promote other people to start watching them.
House: N/A due to baseball playoffs.
Reaper: Another fun episode that yielded a lot of laughs but still failed to break out of its formula. On one hand, the formula works, so I can't be too mad at them. Still, variety is the spice of life and this show could use to show that it at least has the ability to change things up once in a while. The Devil was still awesome this week, but we also saw that he knows how to perfectly get what he wants when someone tries to defy him.
Back to You: The initial problems with this show remain. The comedic talent on this show continue to be weighed down by the awful characters surrounding them. Like Journeyman, this show is on borrowed time.
Survivor: Only saw parts of it while flipping between it and the ball game. From the commercials, I figured each tribe would just steal the other's best players and for the most part I was right. Not sure how Sherea got chosen though. Also, how foolish of Zhan Hu to think they would just be stealing from the other tribe and not have to give anything in return. Idiots. They continued to show their intellectual ineptitude by throwing a challenge. Actually, I sort of see their rationale, but the way they went about it was all wrong. Plus, karma always has a way of getting revenge on people like this who try to throw challenges. Despite the remaining Zhan Hu thinking everything went according to plan, I don't see this having a big impact...yet. Aaron is no great loss and Fei Long still remains a strong threat even without him. This week it looks like someone will discover the hidden immunity. Given the way this season has played out, I wonder how long it will take before they tell the rest of the tribe that they found it.
CSI: Didn't watch because of the ball game. Anyone want to tell me if Sara accepted Grissom's marriage proposal?
My Name is Earl and 30 Rock: Of these two, 30 Rock was the clear winner this week. I get what Earl was trying to do with its creative writing episode, but it just felt a little flat to me. On 30 Rock, none of the three primarily storylines were really advanced, but they continued to deliver some LOL moments while telling them.
The Office: I'm so torn on this week's episode as I thought it was really well done but severely was lacking in the humor dept. Given the storylines they're dealing with right now, I suppose the somber tone was appropriate, but I wish they would go back to having more fun in the office. I may have said it before, but they really have entered into this parallel universe where Jim and Pam are happy and in love and everyone else is miserable. As much as I don't want to see anything ruin PB and J's relationship, I want Michael and Dwight back to their old selves as well. It should be interesting to see how much things change, including my opinions on the season, now that they go back to half hour episodes this week.
Looks like the Goblet of Fire wasn't the only thing that was flaming
So over the weekend, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling revealed an interesting bit of information about Hogwarts' headmaster:
"At a Friday night appearance at Carnegie Hall, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling confirmed that which many fans had suspected: Albus' wand leans the other way. According to the AP, during a question-and-answer following a brief Deathly Hallows reading, Rowling responded to a query about Hogwarts' headmaster finding true love by saying, "Dumbledore is gay." The writer proceeded to elaborate that Dumbledore was smitten with Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle. Upon seeing his good friend go bad, she says, Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."
OK, what?!? I mean, what purpose does this serve? First of all, who are these moron fans that are asking about Dumbledore's love life? You have one opportunity to ask this woman anything about the rich world she's created and that's what you want to know? Second, what good does it do to reveal this now after the fact? All it does is rile up the homophobes who don't want to hear that and it certainly doesn't appease those in favor of it because she was too gutless to add that aspect into the actual books. This was definiely something that deserved to be left to readers' imagination rather than revealed in such an frivolous manner.
"At a Friday night appearance at Carnegie Hall, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling confirmed that which many fans had suspected: Albus' wand leans the other way. According to the AP, during a question-and-answer following a brief Deathly Hallows reading, Rowling responded to a query about Hogwarts' headmaster finding true love by saying, "Dumbledore is gay." The writer proceeded to elaborate that Dumbledore was smitten with Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle. Upon seeing his good friend go bad, she says, Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."
OK, what?!? I mean, what purpose does this serve? First of all, who are these moron fans that are asking about Dumbledore's love life? You have one opportunity to ask this woman anything about the rich world she's created and that's what you want to know? Second, what good does it do to reveal this now after the fact? All it does is rile up the homophobes who don't want to hear that and it certainly doesn't appease those in favor of it because she was too gutless to add that aspect into the actual books. This was definiely something that deserved to be left to readers' imagination rather than revealed in such an frivolous manner.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Transformercial
As my fall break continues, I saw the last of the big summer films today, Transformers. There are a number of reasons why this one was the last one I got too. 1) The project initially didn't interest me as I never was a fan of the toys growing up; I was a GoBots man, myself. 2) Seeing Michael Bay's name attached to it didn't give me much hope that this was going to be a cinematic masterpiece. 3) I got increasingly annoyed at the amount of publicity the film was getting; the MTV Movie Awards basically became one long commercial for the film. 4) I've never thought much of Shia LeBeouf as an actor.
Despite all those reasons, I went into the film with an open mind. After all, the film made a lot of money and I read/heard a lot of people say they thought it was really good. The general consensus was that the film was a lot of fun with kick-ass action. Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to share in that belief. For whatever reason, I just couldn't turn off my brain and enjoy it. There were too many things in the film that I found annoying.
First, was the amount of commercialization within the film, hence the title of my post. Now this film is not the first to have gratuitous product placement, but here, every scene seemed to include a brand name of some product, and a lot of times they had nothing to do with the scene. Off the top of my head I saw plugs for GMC, Cadillac, Burger King, Mountain Dew, Apple, Xbox, My Little Pony, Furby, and Wells Fargo. I'm sure I'm missing something too. Seeing these things pop up constantly became annoying after a while.
Then there was the liberties Michael Bay took with time throughout the film. In one scene it would be morning and then the next it would be pitch black and there is no context given for what happened over the course of that time. Bay just sets up action sequence after action sequence without doing a proper job of placing them in a logical or clear setting.
Shia LeBeouf also continued his streak of grating performances in my book here. He seemingly plays the same character in every film; this smarmy, rapid talked that wants you to think he's humble and just a kid, yet comes off as cocky and arrogant. Frankly though, all of the human characters came off as unlikeable to me. And a lot of them had characterization that just confused me; like John Tuturro's comedic hardass. He gets introduced halfway through the film and you're completely confused as to what his motivations are and why he's being so difficult. About halfway through the film, I was starting to think that the Autobots should just let the Decepticons destroy the planet. If these are the people representing us, perhaps we need to start over.
In addition to the confusing characters, you also had scenes that left me scratching my head too. The whole scene involving Sam looking for his glasses and being interrupted by his parents was terrible. First off, the Autobots were annoyingly impatient with Sam as he looked for the glasses. Then I found it hard to believe that these huge machines are walking around in Sam's backyard yet NO ONE seems to notice. Then there's the awkward dialogue between Sam and his parents about what he was doing in his bedroom that goes nowhere. The other scene I found troubling was the final climatic battle between the Transformers. There is all these explosions and destruction going on, yet there are constantly people wandering in the street amongst this carnage. After the first explosion, wouldn't these people find shelter or run away. I'm watching this and thinking "What are these people still doing here?"
Speaking of the final climatic battle, I was hoping this was going to be the film's saving grace. After the first 3/4 of the film was focused too heavily on the humans, I thought that I would at least get an awesome battle to close things out. Yet, even this wasn't as good as I would have liked. I think a part of the problem was that it was too difficult to discern who was fighting. Perhaps with a better knowledge of the characters, this may not have been a problem. But for me, it just seemed like two hunks of metal wrestling each other. I could never tell who had the advantage. Then the whole thing ends with a thud with Sam sticking the cube inside of Megatron. I wouldn't have had as big of a problem with that, if that solution had been posed earlier in the film. Instead, they Optimus kept harping on how he would have to absorb the cube in order to save everyone. Why should he kill himself when sticking it in Megatron was clearly a better solution?
Perhaps I am overanalyzing a film that isn't meant to be nitpicked. Unfortunately the film's flaws were just too glaring to me. I think a good comparison would be the new Die Hard film that came out this summer. It too had a lot of action and ridiculous stunts that require a suspension of belief. However, the difference between the two is that I had a lot of fun with that one and Transformers just left me with a big headache. I am glad there are those out there who enjoyed this, but I thought the film simply did not provide more than meets the eye. Grade: C+
Despite all those reasons, I went into the film with an open mind. After all, the film made a lot of money and I read/heard a lot of people say they thought it was really good. The general consensus was that the film was a lot of fun with kick-ass action. Unfortunately, I ended up not being able to share in that belief. For whatever reason, I just couldn't turn off my brain and enjoy it. There were too many things in the film that I found annoying.
First, was the amount of commercialization within the film, hence the title of my post. Now this film is not the first to have gratuitous product placement, but here, every scene seemed to include a brand name of some product, and a lot of times they had nothing to do with the scene. Off the top of my head I saw plugs for GMC, Cadillac, Burger King, Mountain Dew, Apple, Xbox, My Little Pony, Furby, and Wells Fargo. I'm sure I'm missing something too. Seeing these things pop up constantly became annoying after a while.
Then there was the liberties Michael Bay took with time throughout the film. In one scene it would be morning and then the next it would be pitch black and there is no context given for what happened over the course of that time. Bay just sets up action sequence after action sequence without doing a proper job of placing them in a logical or clear setting.
Shia LeBeouf also continued his streak of grating performances in my book here. He seemingly plays the same character in every film; this smarmy, rapid talked that wants you to think he's humble and just a kid, yet comes off as cocky and arrogant. Frankly though, all of the human characters came off as unlikeable to me. And a lot of them had characterization that just confused me; like John Tuturro's comedic hardass. He gets introduced halfway through the film and you're completely confused as to what his motivations are and why he's being so difficult. About halfway through the film, I was starting to think that the Autobots should just let the Decepticons destroy the planet. If these are the people representing us, perhaps we need to start over.
In addition to the confusing characters, you also had scenes that left me scratching my head too. The whole scene involving Sam looking for his glasses and being interrupted by his parents was terrible. First off, the Autobots were annoyingly impatient with Sam as he looked for the glasses. Then I found it hard to believe that these huge machines are walking around in Sam's backyard yet NO ONE seems to notice. Then there's the awkward dialogue between Sam and his parents about what he was doing in his bedroom that goes nowhere. The other scene I found troubling was the final climatic battle between the Transformers. There is all these explosions and destruction going on, yet there are constantly people wandering in the street amongst this carnage. After the first explosion, wouldn't these people find shelter or run away. I'm watching this and thinking "What are these people still doing here?"
Speaking of the final climatic battle, I was hoping this was going to be the film's saving grace. After the first 3/4 of the film was focused too heavily on the humans, I thought that I would at least get an awesome battle to close things out. Yet, even this wasn't as good as I would have liked. I think a part of the problem was that it was too difficult to discern who was fighting. Perhaps with a better knowledge of the characters, this may not have been a problem. But for me, it just seemed like two hunks of metal wrestling each other. I could never tell who had the advantage. Then the whole thing ends with a thud with Sam sticking the cube inside of Megatron. I wouldn't have had as big of a problem with that, if that solution had been posed earlier in the film. Instead, they Optimus kept harping on how he would have to absorb the cube in order to save everyone. Why should he kill himself when sticking it in Megatron was clearly a better solution?
Perhaps I am overanalyzing a film that isn't meant to be nitpicked. Unfortunately the film's flaws were just too glaring to me. I think a good comparison would be the new Die Hard film that came out this summer. It too had a lot of action and ridiculous stunts that require a suspension of belief. However, the difference between the two is that I had a lot of fun with that one and Transformers just left me with a big headache. I am glad there are those out there who enjoyed this, but I thought the film simply did not provide more than meets the eye. Grade: C+
Friday, October 12, 2007
Talking Thursday TV
My Name is Earl: Given the bland nature of the prison storyline to start this season, I was happy to see that this ended up being a flashback episode which showed how all of the primary characters came together and it was a result of Frank, who was played by Michael Rappaport. Rappaport is an actor who I never cared for, nor found funny, so kudos to this show for giving him a role that changed my opinion of him. From what I've read, the Frank character will be around for a few episodes, as will Alyssa Milano, who will play Frank's former girlfriend. With an addition like that, there may be hope that this whole Earl is prison thing may finally begin to perk up.
30 Rock: Last week's episode featuring Jerry Seinfeld was just all right, so I was pleased to see that the show was back on its A game this week. All three of the storylines delivered numerous laughs: You had Jack once again battling it out with his nemesis Devin Banks (played wonderfully by Will Arnett), you had Kenneth trying his best to get Tracy to rekindle with his wife, and you had Jenna continue to deal with her weight issues. Highlights included Tracy's music video for "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah", Dr Spaceman helping Jenna with her weight, Devin putting Jack's heart to the test while Jack put Devin's gayness to the test, and Liz using her ham napkin (aka her unused wedding dress) to prop up her Blerg furniture. The lone disappointment this week was that we didn't get to see enough of the writing staff. But having a large cast full of funny people is far from a serious problem. They'll all get their chance to shine throughout the season.
The Office: The hour long episodes still feel excessive to me, but this week's episode was certainly an improvement over last week's uneven effort. Certainly the highlight this week came from Dwight's attempt and eventual success at outselling the new online service offered at Dunder Mifflin's new website. Part of the enjoyment was watching Dwight and new crony Andy be over-the-top in their obnoxiousness as Dwight battled the computer. But the other joy came from Jim and Pam's wonderful prank where they began IMing Dwight pretending to be the computer come alive.
We also had plenty of romance in the air as Andy did his damndest to woo Angela now that she's on the market again, while it appears the beginnings of a love connection were forming between Kelly and Darryl. More on that in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Michael is having all sorts of problems. Jan wouldn't come with him to the website's launch party in New York (I absolutely loved Michael asking Jan if she would mind if he took Carol instead). Then Michael learned he wasn't invited to the party in New York. This completely set off Michael and led to him kidnapping a pizza boy after he wouldn't honor his coupon. Michael really appears to be in a downward spiral since the beginning of the season and I'm worried to see where rock bottom might be for him.
Other highlights included Stanley's dancing to the website's music, Phyllis trying to use different tactics to stand up against Angela, the cold opening with everyone's attention diverted to the floating DVD screensaver, Kevin's concern over getting the right Angelo's pizza, and Jim and Pam's rooftop date.
Survivor A lackluster episode after a strong start to the season. Then again, maybe I'm just bitter for failing to score points in Fantasy Survivor from this week's episode. Some bad intel caused my downfall as the commercials misled me to think both tribes were both voting someone off and TV Guide showed a picture of Dave to make me think he would still be around next week, hence why I didn't put any points on him. Misleads aside, Zhan Hu really dropped the ball here by voting him off. Sure he was annoying as all hell, but he was also essential to their daily living, while Sherea provided absolutely nothing for that tribe. The challenges weren't very interesting, mainly because they weren't very competitive. BTW, what was up with that wacky animation during the immunity challenge? Unless they're trying to trick me again, next week the tribes will be reshuffled, which should hopefully provide a little more balance into what has been a rather lopsided competition thus far. One final thought...why does everyone keep trusting Todd. He sure seems sneaky to me, yet everyone keeps making alliances with him and giving him clues to the hidden immunity. And everyone that gives him information ends up getting voted out. If I was the rest of the castaways, I would be looking for ways to eliminate him sooner, rather than later.
CSI: This week's episode was one of those hauntingly disturbing episodes that this show seems to excel at. All sorts of creepy crimes were believed to or actually did occur including pedophilia, double homicide, and exorcisms. I thought Lost's Michael did a good job as the reverend/former sex offender. Although, it still wasn't clear to me at the end whether he had given up his former transgressions or not. I thought the way they determined the girl had been involved in the murders was a little too neat and tidy, not to mention circumstantial, but given how much they had to do to get to that point, the rushed finished was probably necessary. They could have had more time, but they opted instead to do a B story involving new CSIer Ronny Lake. Conveniently paired up with the soon-to-be-gone Sara, she appeared, character-wise, to be the complete opposite of Sara, which is more than likely intentional on the writers part. I'll wait a few episodes to pass judgment on her, but my initial thought is that she doesn't seem like she'll fit in too well with the rest of the regulars. Also, the beehive Grissom found will be returning in future episodes. From what I've read, it will be his pet project for the season. I guess he needs something to take his mind off Sara.
30 Rock: Last week's episode featuring Jerry Seinfeld was just all right, so I was pleased to see that the show was back on its A game this week. All three of the storylines delivered numerous laughs: You had Jack once again battling it out with his nemesis Devin Banks (played wonderfully by Will Arnett), you had Kenneth trying his best to get Tracy to rekindle with his wife, and you had Jenna continue to deal with her weight issues. Highlights included Tracy's music video for "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah", Dr Spaceman helping Jenna with her weight, Devin putting Jack's heart to the test while Jack put Devin's gayness to the test, and Liz using her ham napkin (aka her unused wedding dress) to prop up her Blerg furniture. The lone disappointment this week was that we didn't get to see enough of the writing staff. But having a large cast full of funny people is far from a serious problem. They'll all get their chance to shine throughout the season.
The Office: The hour long episodes still feel excessive to me, but this week's episode was certainly an improvement over last week's uneven effort. Certainly the highlight this week came from Dwight's attempt and eventual success at outselling the new online service offered at Dunder Mifflin's new website. Part of the enjoyment was watching Dwight and new crony Andy be over-the-top in their obnoxiousness as Dwight battled the computer. But the other joy came from Jim and Pam's wonderful prank where they began IMing Dwight pretending to be the computer come alive.
We also had plenty of romance in the air as Andy did his damndest to woo Angela now that she's on the market again, while it appears the beginnings of a love connection were forming between Kelly and Darryl. More on that in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Michael is having all sorts of problems. Jan wouldn't come with him to the website's launch party in New York (I absolutely loved Michael asking Jan if she would mind if he took Carol instead). Then Michael learned he wasn't invited to the party in New York. This completely set off Michael and led to him kidnapping a pizza boy after he wouldn't honor his coupon. Michael really appears to be in a downward spiral since the beginning of the season and I'm worried to see where rock bottom might be for him.
Other highlights included Stanley's dancing to the website's music, Phyllis trying to use different tactics to stand up against Angela, the cold opening with everyone's attention diverted to the floating DVD screensaver, Kevin's concern over getting the right Angelo's pizza, and Jim and Pam's rooftop date.
Survivor A lackluster episode after a strong start to the season. Then again, maybe I'm just bitter for failing to score points in Fantasy Survivor from this week's episode. Some bad intel caused my downfall as the commercials misled me to think both tribes were both voting someone off and TV Guide showed a picture of Dave to make me think he would still be around next week, hence why I didn't put any points on him. Misleads aside, Zhan Hu really dropped the ball here by voting him off. Sure he was annoying as all hell, but he was also essential to their daily living, while Sherea provided absolutely nothing for that tribe. The challenges weren't very interesting, mainly because they weren't very competitive. BTW, what was up with that wacky animation during the immunity challenge? Unless they're trying to trick me again, next week the tribes will be reshuffled, which should hopefully provide a little more balance into what has been a rather lopsided competition thus far. One final thought...why does everyone keep trusting Todd. He sure seems sneaky to me, yet everyone keeps making alliances with him and giving him clues to the hidden immunity. And everyone that gives him information ends up getting voted out. If I was the rest of the castaways, I would be looking for ways to eliminate him sooner, rather than later.
CSI: This week's episode was one of those hauntingly disturbing episodes that this show seems to excel at. All sorts of creepy crimes were believed to or actually did occur including pedophilia, double homicide, and exorcisms. I thought Lost's Michael did a good job as the reverend/former sex offender. Although, it still wasn't clear to me at the end whether he had given up his former transgressions or not. I thought the way they determined the girl had been involved in the murders was a little too neat and tidy, not to mention circumstantial, but given how much they had to do to get to that point, the rushed finished was probably necessary. They could have had more time, but they opted instead to do a B story involving new CSIer Ronny Lake. Conveniently paired up with the soon-to-be-gone Sara, she appeared, character-wise, to be the complete opposite of Sara, which is more than likely intentional on the writers part. I'll wait a few episodes to pass judgment on her, but my initial thought is that she doesn't seem like she'll fit in too well with the rest of the regulars. Also, the beehive Grissom found will be returning in future episodes. From what I've read, it will be his pet project for the season. I guess he needs something to take his mind off Sara.
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