Total Number of Ratings: 3
The Week That Was in TV! (01/18-01/25)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 3:18 PM
A little late this week but here's the good ol' weekly rundown of what was on TV last week.
Monday
No Reservations
No Reservations came back last week with a great episode in Panama and this episode in Istanbul was just as good. Istanbul and Turkey in general were much more interesting and had a much wider array of foods than I ever expected. Most of it I'd never eat because I'm picky as hell (although I'm working on that) but it all looked ineteresting and as usual Bourdain ate everything with gusto and genuine excitement. His passion for trying new things and experiencing new cultures is something that I really admire, one of my favourite shows on TV.
Other shows I watched: Heroes, Castle, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, 24, Chuck
Tuesday
White Collar
A solid B+ show, I don't love it but I'm glad it's back after the cliffhanger at the end of the first half of the season. As expected things weren't as they seemed and we've set things up interestingly for the next half of the season. My main issue with the show is I don't like the main character all that much, he didn't really do anything for me when he was on Chuck and the same thing goes for White Collar. It's really a premise that I thought I'd enjoy more than I do.
Other shows I watched: Scrubs, Better Off Ted
Wednesday
Human Target
Speaking of new shows with a premise I'm interested in, Human Target is working for me WAY more than White Collar, the chemistry between the main characters is much better and they're all generally more likable than the actors on White Collar. I've been a fan of Mark Valley since Boston Legal and it's great to see him loosen up a bit in this. Chi McBride and Jackie Earle Haley are both excellent as well. Great fun action series.
Other shows I watched: Leverage, Ugly Betty, Criminal Minds, Modern Family, Nip/Tuck
Thursday
Supernatural
One of my favourite shows on TV is back and Dean and Sam are in the nuthouse to try and track down a monster. It was a solid standlone monster-of-the-week episode with some really funny moments between Sam and Dean. I love these episodes but hopefully next week we get back to the big story of the Apocalypse.
Other shows I watched: Parks and Recreation, The Mentalist, Private Practice, 30 Rock, Bones, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Fringe, Community, Burn Notice
Friday
Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
I've always liked the idea of Late Night talk shows more than I've actually watched them. I have a hard time staying up and paying attention so I've never really watched them, but when I was up Conan was always a favourite. All the crap that went down between NBC and him isn't something I'm going to talk about here but either way it's made for two weeks of fantastic television capped with a truly great final episode. Starting with a remix of the montage from the original episode where Conan ran across country to "Surrender", followed by an awkward bit with Steve Carrell, an alright interview with Tom Hanks and a great performance by Neil Young. Then we had a heartfelt and impassioned speech from Conan where he was choking back tears (and I suspect so were most of the audience, myself included) and finally a truly epic rendition of Freebird sung by Will Ferrell and performed by Ben Harper, Beck, Max Weinberg and his band, a guy from ZZ Top and Conan himself. Conan was clearly loving every minute of it and it was the perfect way to end the series. I can't wait to see where Conan ends up.
Other shows I watched: Kenny vs Spenny
Saturday
I played Risk with some friends of mine and I got STOMPED, lost in about an hour.
Sunday
I played some video games today, finally beat God of War and started playing some of Shadow Complex. Fun games both.
Other show I watched/recorded: Big Love
What did you guys watch? Comments, questions, complains, etc... you know the drill.
Risk is an awesome game. I wish there was a little bit more in the way of strategy (which is to say I wish there was some at all) but I love the game.
I'm on board with Human Target. I haven't watched the second episode yet but the first one really grabbed me with the premise. It's like a modern day MacGyver but with more moral ambiguity and shooting.
Supernatural was a fun episode as well. The scene where they booked themselves in for treatment was really funny but I loved the theme of the brother's realising that maybe they are a bit crazy but it's the sort of crazy they need to be to do this job.
Respond
Human Target may be one of my new favorite shows. It's new I know, but I look forward to every episode. If there's a problem, it's night jumping (it started on Sunday, last week it was on Wednesday, and the new episode is tonight on Tuesday) but it is such a fun show that feels very much like an era gone by. It's what USA does so well, and this show isn't on USA.
The last episode of the "Tonight Show" was great, and I'll own up to be being chocked up as well. I've been watching Conan since 95 so this really felt like the end of an era, even if he gets a new show, I'll be surprised if the whole band is there, plus Andy, plus the characters, this was the end of an era, and what an ending.
Other then those two shows, this week of TV was all catching up on "Rescue Me" and "Eastbound and Down" soooo damn good.
And all love to the board game night, I did that a few weeks ago with my friends, we played Pandemic, it's a lot of fun.