TV Roundup: Week of 23 November 2009

Not much to say of this week's Thanksgiving-themed episodes of HIMYM and Modern Family. Both were pretty ok. Light on the laughs department. The see-saw between Ted and Robin got old quick, and the resolution was pretty much telegraphed that Marshall would end up being the one to slap Barney all along. Didn't much care for the Lily subplot with her dad. The chaotic finale to the Modern Family ep was less satisfying than all the build-up. The plot device of having the quasi-mystery of who got hurt at the hospital and then flashing back to the earlier events didn't seem necessary, while none of the plots (Cam as clown; Manny seeking dating advice from his dad; Claire at the crafts table) were particularly funny.

Stargate Universe: "Life". Goodness, another turgid, turgid episode. The show seems to see-saw between watchable and unbearable eps, and this one's firmly in the latter category. Felt for TJ, who had the unenvious task of seeking folks out for their pysch evaluation. Rush was insufferable (what else is new?), while the personal storylines involving Young, Ming-Na's characters and Scott would have been more interesting had I been more invested in the characters, which I'm not.

Stargate Universe: "Time"

Very good episode this week. Was about to rail at the initial Kino POV that it was all style for no good reason, when it turned out that TPTB had a good reason. The production designer did a really good job with the jungle setting, and the rain especially accentuated the torridness of the attacks by the planet's creatures. Despite being done probably like a gazillion times before in scifi, I liked the solar flare time travel bit. Scott making use of the solar flare to send a new Kino back in time to tell the crew what exactly will happen in the future nicely sets up the second part.

Stargate Universe: Season 1 Episode 7

Fell asleep in the middle of watching the episode, so can't really give a review of it, and don't really feel like watching it again, but what I saw, I didn't like. Again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, the show tries to be serious like "Battlestar Galactica" but it just doesn't come across with the required heft, and there's simply not enough likeable characters to plaster over all the flaws and keep the audience watching. If it continues in this vein, I'm not sure I'll be blogging about it any more.

Stargate Universe: "Water"

Ok episode this week. Felt like a rehash of the second episode on the desert planet, when the team needed to mine resources from an inhospitable planet due to a shortage back on ship (in this case water). To be fair, the writers did admit the similarities, though, in the many references back to the earlier ep, and even the sand alien from that ep made an appearance here. Eli's holier-than-thou chastisement of everyone else for lying to Young when he was off-world about the alien situation was off-putting, and again relegates the character several notches down in my favorite character list for the show, which admittedly runs pretty thin. Though the situation with Young not leaving Scott behind after the latter fell into a crevasse was predictable, I did like the portrayal of Young being a good commander again (and that's not mentioning him entrusting the ship to TJ and telling her she'll do fine). It's pretty run-of-the-mill stuff, but the show really needs a strong moral anchor right now. The alien attacking Gorman was pretty horrifying, though I don't think the various homages to the "Alien" franchise, e.g. Greer wielding the flame thrower, the ice planet etc, worked that well as homages. Again, the show is aiming too hard for "Battlestar Galactica"-like gritty realism, reinforced by the brief scene at the end where Young had to deal with the various mundane complaints of the residents. But it just comes across so far like a kid trying to act grown-up, and it's not working so far. Would the show work better if it lightened up and adopted the approach of its SG franchise predecessors. I'm not sure, but there's only one way for the producers to tell.

Stargate Universe: "Light"

Nice! First episode of SGU that I really enjoyed. Despite the protracted end (they're not gonna kill off half the main cast just five episodes in), plus mwah suspected that the star might revitalized Destiny's heretofore non-existent (or practically non-existent anyway) power, I thought this was pretty well-worked. I cared about the various characters as they awaited their impending doom (especially Eli which has gone from one my least fav characters to probably my fav), and I really liked the quiet strength portrayed by Colonel Young too. The FX was incredible with Destiny going into the star (and the show answered the question in my head "The ship's getting pretty close to the star without anything happening to it, isn't it?" with the fact that the shield was activated), and though the problem with the shuttle re-engaging with Destiny seems a bit manufactured suspense, it was pretty exciting nevertheless. And Rush was even ok for once, as he worked with the rest in getting the shuttle back safely, and earlier when he was going through what was, at that time, his farewell to Young. See SGU? The show does work when the crew is working alongside each other. The only thing that felt off, though, was the end when Young confronted Rush as to whether he deliberately took his name off the lottery for the shuttle because he knew all along that Destiny was going to survive. Like Eli said, it was pretty apparent, at least from what the audience was shown in this episode, that Rush most likely didn't know that, or even if he did, it was a weak hunch at best. Why the writers have Rush not flat out deny that to Young, or to have Young question that in the first place, comes across like a really tacked-on attempt at restoring the conflict between the two leading characters of the ship, after they had more or less reconciled with each other. Still, a good episode nonetheless, and the the show will be sticking around in my TV diet for a while more.

TV Roundup: Week of 12 October 2009

How I Met Your Mother: Ok episode. Marshall and Lily's double date with Robin and Barney was fun to watch, especially Marshall's over-enthusiasm, but ultimately ran out of steam at the end.

The Office: Terrific episode of "The Office", packed with laughs. Oscar's TH that the sane was being outnumbered after Jim and Pam are gone and Toby had zoned out, followed immediately by Toby zoning out during his TH, was the hilarious highlight. The cold open and Kevin taking Jim's office were funny too, and despite the premise, I found myself liking Andy and Dwight helping Michael with his "mob" issue.

Stargate Universe: Geez, Rush's rant was probably the most unbearable, insufferable moment I've seen in fictional TV this year, by a country mile. Not helping the likeabiity of this show at all. Other than that, I really liked how the others pulled together despite Rush's negativity, and I'm especially starting to take to Eli's optimism. A nice moment of levity at the end when the crew paused to take in the beautiful sight of the planet as Destiny entered its gravitational pull, and they worked in a cliffhanger too. All in all, despite Rush, I liked the episode, so I think I'll be sticking around for a few weeks.

Stargate Universe: Series Premiere

A new Stargate series! Yay! Despite its shortcomings, I liked "Stargate: Atlantis" (SGA) a lot, and so with its cancellation I was looking to maybe the latest in the franchise for my weekly Stargate fix. First off, "Stargate: Universe" (SGU) looks amazing. It really looks like SyFy Channel pumped in a lot of dough into the premiere, as the visual effects look better than anything on SGA and SG1. The premiere also moves at a nice clip, though the action sequences (e.g. the evacuation from the base to the Ancient ship) lack suspense or generate any significant levels of excitement. Indeed, even the final reveal of Robert Carlyle's Dr. Rush on the central concept of the show (the Ancient ship automatically drops out of hyperspace whenever it detects a world where it deems is suitable for the placement of a Gate, and drops back into hyperspace after 12 hours...which means the team only has a limited time to do their trademark Stargate trekking) doesn't really register as big an impact as what the writers (Brad Wright and Robert Cooper probably intended. Critically, despite the dire situation of a failing life support system on the ship, I found I didn't really care for any of the characters, and found myself missing SGA in the middle of the premiere. Eli as the resident geek comes across as irritating and annoying, where SG1's Sam and SGA's McKay were easily my favorite characters in those respective shows. Young is just mirthless instead of imposing, and Rush is just so holier-than-thou it's off-putting. Though the creators probably wanted a show that isn't a clone of its predecessors, I found myself missing the the levity of SG1 and SGA. SGU seems like its aiming for "Battlestar Galactica"-scale gravitas, and just coming off as a poor imitation, and abandoning what really distinguished the "Stargate" franchise (at least for me)...a fun sci-fi show where one can just tune in each week to watch the team's exploits without thinking too much. It's only the first episode, of course, so I could very well be too harsh in my opinions and harbor unrealistic expectations...perhaps I did indeed expect to find an SGA clone. It'll be intriguing to see how the show develops itself both in terms of tone and its characters over the coming weeks.