Evil_Genius: Hmm… I haven’t seen Firefly though I have heard of it. Sounds interesting, I’m always up for more sci-fi. Oh, and have fun watching Castle! As I’ve said, I finished watching the first season, so I’m very curious to hear what you think of it!
eje: I don’t know what’s the science channel, but I watch docos all the time! I watch Discovery Channel, Nat Geo, Discovery Travel & Living, Animal Planet, and BBC. Real-life can be just as entertaining as fiction!
Mr Coll-burt is my new favourite news presenter. Guess who made a cameo in one of his recent episodes?
LOLS Bleep Bloop. I’ve been a big fan of Stephen Colbert since his show premiered. tdit, have you seen this Colbert clip? He mentions both Up and WALL-E. colbertnation.com/the-colber … ie-edition
tdit: Where I live there is a channel called “Science Channel” I too watch all of those channels, except Travel & Living, because I don’t get that channel. But I do get Travel Channel!
Yup, I think I saw it on the TV last year. I was so elated when Up and Wall-E appeared in the same segment, I felt like doing a ‘Tom-Cruise’ on the couch!
[size=75]Have you seen a bird? We want to find one and we’ve been on its scent.[/size]
So I’ve finally got down to watching Chase, a drama based on the oldest federal law enforcement agency in America, the US Marshals Service. Steely-faced Kelli Giddish plays Annie Frost, a federal agent who stops at nothing to get her man (or woman). Every episode, she and her team hunt down runaway fugitives, violent criminals, and missing people. It’s less procedural-CSI and more psychological-brain-picking in the same vein of shows like Criminal Minds and The Mentalist. The unique setting of Texas instead of the typical L.A./New York locations is novel and might appeal to anyone who lives there.
I’ve watched the first four episodes. Pilot has Annie tracking a fugitive who is trying to escape with his family across the border. Repo involves Annie searching for a notorious Mexican who is after his drug money caches. In the Comeback Kid, she tries to catch a mobster who wants to pull one last heist, and in Paranoia, she attempts to rescue a kidnapped girl.
The pilot is by far the worst episode, and unfortunately not a great start to a series which gets better as it goes on. I didn’t instantly connect with the characters, and Annie initially came off as aloof to me. There are also character archetypes; Annie is the determined hero who sometimes doesn’t look before she leaps (and leap she does in one of the pilot’s most spectacular sequences). Her partner played by Cole Hauser is the straight man with reason who reins her in half the time. Jesse Metcalfe plays the clueless ‘probie’, and Amaury Nolasco and Rose Rollins round up the rest of the cast as tokenistic supporting characters. This might put off initial viewers who tuned for the first episode and then didn’t stick around for subsequent ones.
But it gets more rewarding, as you do get to learn more as the series goes on (Annie has an intriguing family history), and since it’s produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, you can expect a lot of over-the-top finales done with old-fashioned stuntwork. One of the strongest suits of this show, though, is the humanising of its villains. While most cops shows are content with demonising the bad guys as cold, heartless monsters, the antagonists here actually are pretty empathetic. The baddie in Pilot shows love for his daughter in a touching scene, the druglord in Repo has a strong (albeit warped) sense of moral justice, and the mobster’s first crime was actually a revenge act in retaliation. But the best villain by far is the one in Paranoia, whose backstory and surprising twist halfway through the episode managed to leave me with a ‘Sixth Sense’ shock effect.
All in all, I’m looking forward to more of this show. It really needs to get a better title sequence and logo, and an earlier timeslot than the overrated The Event, because its heart is in the right place and its storylines are compelling enough to keep me interested.
thedriveintheater: I’ve never heard of this show, but it does sound interesting. And I am suprised by the Texas setting, compared to the more popular East or West Coast big city locations.
ellie-jessie-eve: It certainly is a very unique show from the scientific CSIs or the quirky NCIS/Mentalist/Psyche variety. Very rarely do they have female leads as well (it’s usually a male/female combo like Bones or Castle), or villains who are as interesting and detailed as their heroes (Criminal Minds comes close, but they are often portrayed as ‘evil’ individuals). I wrote a review for the latest episode I watched on Wall-E Forums which I’ll just post below, but you should check it out if you like Texan scenery or TV shows with diverse casts like Grey’s Anatomy or Lost. Think it shows on NBC on Monday after ‘The Event’, whose pilot I watched and enjoyed, but I don’t think I have the stamina to stick with since it’s a serial like Flash-Forward or Heroes. I prefer self-contained episodes with larger character arcs, so I don’t feel lost if I miss an episode or two.
From Wall-E Forums:
Chase - Paranoia - 8/10
I’ve posted a four-episode review in the separate Chase thread, but this is my favourite of the series so far. There’s a twist halfway through the episode that I didn’t see coming, and the ending is Jerry-Bruckheimer action-packed, although I strangely felt sorry for the antagonist.
Annie Frost and her team are after a suspect who takes it upon himself to act like a U.S. Marshal and hunt down criminals. I’ve seen the ‘misguided/deluded-individual-who-impersonates-law-enforcement-agents’ premise been done before in other shows like Law and Order: SVU and Rush, but this episode takes it to a whole new level with the baddie playing tricks on the team and making official press statements on their behalf.
There was one clever ploy in which he uses the judiciary power of the U.S. Marshals to form a posse. I had read about this before; this was a necessity back in the days when manpower was short and the Marshals had to informally recruit civilians to help them make an arrest, so I liked how they wrote that part of the constitution into the show.
Another inspired moment is when he forces Annie to handcuff herself and deputize him at gunpoint, then steals her badge and vehicle. She then pursues him with a comandeered vehicle, but he uses the police radio to call for backup. It makes for an interesting role reversal when Annie is then caught wearing restraints, driving a civilian vehicle, and without her badge, even though she is the real federal agent.
And as usual, the villain in this episode is also sympathetic, having being bullied as a kid in school and dropped from the academy, impersonating a law enforcer is his way of fulfilling his desire for power and authority. His considerable knowledge of police work and experience also makes him a formidable opponent for Annie’s team, as he demonstrates when Annie tries to use negotiating tactics with him at one point. Although he is terrible at observing gun safety and protocol, which is why vigilantiism doesn’t really work half the time.
Overall, one of the more brilliantly-written episodes of the season.
Ooh… I watched a few episodes before eje, and I did like it. I love this seaon’s tagline: [spoil]You can run, but Dog’ll catch you.[/spoil]
I’ve returned to Singapore and I saw an ad for a new locally-produced TV drama. Point of Entry follows a fictional special-operations team from the ICA (Immigration & Checkpoints Authority, think the Singaporean version of the U.S. ICE), tasked with protecting the island nation’s borders from arms smugglers, illegal immigrants, and dangerous fugitives.
I’m really excited, it’s been ages since Singapore has done a police procedural, and this seems along the same lines of my current obssession (NBC’s Chase). The series premieres this Thursday! Oh yeah…
Wow thedriveintheater, Point of Entry does sound really interesting! It kind of reminds me of the US show Border Control. Only one’s fictional and the other is non-fiction.
Well, the task force in Point of Entry might be fictional, but the ads have been plugging it as “based on real-life events”. I’m really excited for it, it seems in the same vein as Rush and Flashpoint, (two excellent Australian and Canadian cop dramas respectively) also based on true stories but featuring fictional units. I am disappointed though that the TV spots are incredibly unprofessional and not half as exciting as the ones I’ve seen for American and Australian shows. Hopefully it’s a case of bad marketing.
…
[size=75]Chuck Norris is so 20th-century.[/size]
Hawaii Five-O Episode 5 - Nalowale
Nalowale means “Forgotten/Missing” in Hawaiian (Thanks FusedFilm.com!), and this brilliantly sums up the Five-O’s case this episode as they investigate the murder of the Philippine ambassador’s daughter. They soon discover that the deceased has a sister who has also gone missing, and the team races to find her before she gets smuggled off the island.
This is one of my favourite episodes so far. There’s a Pixar reference in the opening submarine tour ride scene (which coincidentally, I’ve ridden before on my trip to Waikiki years ago) that shows how much the studio’s films have permeated into the public consciousness. There’s a cameo by a certain star from Heroes as an eccentric savant lab-rat (though he has a rather peculiar name). And one of the greatest video games of all-time gets a reference in one of McGarrett and Dano’s witty banters. Oh, and the climax is an all-out ridiculous kung-fu fight that simply has to be seen.
I’m hoping to start watching the entirety of “Daria” soon, whether I get it for Christmas or I buy it myself with school refund money in January. It’s about time!
ETA
Ohhh, I’m going through “The Honeymooners” original 39 again, probably for the 4th or 5th time. I loves it.
Indeed, “Daria” was one of my Christmas presents. I’m only on disc 3 and think the DVD could be better, but it’s easily one of the best DVDs I own. There are 65 episodes on here AND the two TV movies–score! All for $50.
I finished “The Honeymooners” once again, sadly, but it’ll be due for another viewing next year.
When I get back to my regular place (+ good internet connection), I want to go through a bunch of Nicktoons that are available to watch instantly on Netflix. “Hey Arnold!” is first, then “Rugrats.” I think I have to come up with a rule for watching so much TV over winter break, though; it all has to be done while riding a stationary bike, on whatever level.
I’ve discovered a new channel! It’s “Planet Green” and I’ve fallen in love with it. It’s a station featuring environmental issues and Enviromentalism in general.
My favorite shows on Planet Green are Last American Cowboy, The Alaska Experiment, Operation Wild, and Treehugger TV.
I don’t have fancy cable stations, but I can’t wait to watch “Planet Earth” on blu-ray. Amazon has it for only $35!!! But I might rent it from Netflix because I’m not sure if I’d watch it very many times. I know it’s so 2007, but still.
I just began “The Powerpuff Girls” last night and plan to plow through the entire series.
