Total Number of Ratings: 2
The Week That Was in TV! (01/25-31/10)
First Published: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 6:38 PM
Last Saved: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 6:43 PM
You know the drill. Ryan and I watch a lot of TV, and each week we write about what we watched. This week was no exception.
There were a lot of random re-runs this week, which I have to say was a bit annoying since we only just got back from the holiday hiatus. But you have to play with the cards your're dealt.
Monday
Lost in Yonkers
Monday's have been tough for me lately. I'm in a local production of Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers and while I have a small part, I feel like I always get called in for the Monday night rehearsals.
Tuesday
Better off Ted (ABC)
"Mess of a Salesman"
Ted's screw-up brother is in town looking for a job. Ted manages to get him hired as a lab supplies salesman. Picking easy targets Ted's Brother goes after Veridian Dynamics' lab nerds, Phil and Lem. After bringing them to an airport bar and teaching them the phrse "deal with it" Ted's Brother gets Phil and Lem to order a year's supply of cadavers, a family of robots and a wind tunnel.
Meanwhile, Veronica won an award from the company and she's assigned Linda to do the required fundraising. Never one to phone it in, Linda does some research and finds out that Veronica is supposed to raise money for the mentorship program for underpriviledged girls. Veronica is bat-shit crazy in love with this idea, and the two of them play Good Cop/Bad Cop when asking for donations. It culminates with Linda head-butting an executive.
I love this show, it's full of inspired lunacy. And Portia de Rossi is pure comedic gold.
Wednesday 
Modern Family (ABC)
"The Incident"
On Wednesdays there is a Glee-shaped hole in my television schedule. I'm trying to be good and not fill the time slot so have time to catch up on other shows or read my comics. This Wednesday I decided to give Modern Family a shot.
About five minutes in I said to my kitten (because talking out loud to myself is crazy), "This is The Office at home." I don't in any way mean that as a bad thing--I think the show is hysterical--but let's call a spade a spade. Modern Family is that same exact fake documentary that reveals inherit and hilarious dysfunction. It even has the same talk to the camera moments.
Thursday 
Burn Notice (USA)
"Friendly Fire"
Annoyed that Grey's was a repeat I spent most of the night just working on theChuck recap, but then I rememebered Burn Notice was back! I have to get used to watching this during the winter. I have so much fun watching this show. I love the voiceover, I love this silly captions for new characters, and I think Bruce Campbell and Sharon Glass are fantastic on this show.
Friday
Caprica (Syfy)
A few weeks back I started watching Battlestar Galactica from the beginning (as I'd never seen it). So far I've only seen the mini-series and the first 2 or 3 episodes, but it's a pretty kick ass show. So when I saw the ads for Caprica (and noticed Eric Stoltz was in it) I thought I'd check it out. But apparently I never told my TiVo to record it so I missed the pilot and had I not been up late cleaning on Friday night, I probably would have missed this second episode.
I'm really glad I caught this episode. I particularly like the way they cut back and forth from the cylon to the actual girl whose conscience is trapped in there. It's a fantastic way to get the audience to feel compassion for a race of robots that later make life a living hell for human kind.
Saturday
Super Mario Brothers (Wii)
I spent all day Saturday cleaning my house. All day. Around 8 o'clock I managed to get the heck out and went over to a friend's house where we played the new Super Mario Brothers game for the Wii. I had a lot of fun with this game (at least until my friend's boyfriend got all serious about it).
Sunday
Avatar (IMAX 3D)
On the last day of the month I finally got around to "starting" my New Year's Resolution of going to see a movie a week. I'm not sure being dragged to Avatar counts but it still got me to the movies - and I shouldn't say "dragged" because I did go willingly, but I went with someone who was really excited to go see it again.
Anyways, I think the praise Avatar is getting is well deserved. It is a marvel in film making. While the story is very cliche and sometimes beats you over the head with symbolism (unobtainium? really?), I thought it was still pretty solid. I really enjoyed this movie and would not protest being taken back to see it a second time.
Tune in next week, folks, for The Week that Was in TV! Same Murmur-time, same Murmur-channel!
I've been doing the same thing with BSG. I'm in the middle of season 2 currently. As of this very moment I've watched the first 30 minutes of the Caprica pilot. I have it and following episode on my DVR. Burn Notice is one of my favorite shows. I'm a sucker for Bruce Campbell. I really like the back and forth bickering between him and Gabrielle Anwar.
I just started watching Better Off Ted with my friend, and I love it. The episode this past week was great. The scientist are the best characters. And Modern Family is totally an office clone, but a very well done one (it's from the creators of "Fraiser" so of course it's good). Next to Community it's my new favorite half hour comedy show on this past year.
Hope to see your updates on Battlestar, it is awesome, maybe the best show on TV in the last ten years, (Yeah I said it! The best!). As for the pilot, it was released as a DVD so if you wanted to netflix it you can. It's quite good, I still have to watch this past weeks episodes, I'm looking forward to it because it's a bunch of great creators, and it's their new show (and the pilot was awesome).
Glad you dug Avatar.
Respond
Unobtainium is an actual thing. Has its own wiki and everything (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium).
I found that seeing Avatar a second time really allowed me to look past the visual overload and it gave me a better look at the story because of it. There's no denying that the dialog is crap, but the actual plot is definitely strong, and really holds up to multiple viewings. When I went to see it a second time, I really wasn't expecting that to happen.