TV notes

Random, haphazard thoughts on TV.

In between the events of my weekend, I spent time trying to catch up on all of the things my TiVo has been recording lately. I watched some movies fully, others bored me so I deleted them. TiVo is recording more than I can watch, but whatever I can get to, I'll get to, and what I don't, I don't. All of the movies it is recording are older movies, so it's been a lot of black and white, golden Hollywood moments. Mostly this is due to the fact that Rogers gave us TCM and AMC.

I'm looking forward to the return of Six Degrees this week. Not that it's a great show, but it's nice that they're at least burning off the episodes so we can see the rest of what they've filmed. It was really frustrating to be watching Vanished, only to have Fox put the remaining episodes online. That's a great idea, which I am all in favor of, except for the fact that they block you from accessing the shows online if you're located outside the US. Thanks for nothing.

I wonder if Six Degrees will actually pick up a bit in ratings with the recent announcement of Bridget Moynahan being pregnant with Tom Brady's baby? Possible, but not likely. The show has pretty much been marked as a goner anyway, so a small ratings increase would be irrelevant.

Smart Woman Survival Guide returned with new shows this weekend, that was good to see. No sign of Rumours, which the CBC seems to have abandoned but made no announcement. Little Mosque On The Prairie rolls on, but I don't think it's retaining the ratings that the CBC hoped for. Unfortunately, the writing is to blame. When you can see the 15 or 30 second preview for the upcoming show and already feel like you've watched the whole show, you know you have a problem. It could be so much better if they didn't fall into typical sitcom scenarios where you can predict the plot a mile away.

Air Farce is celebrating their 300th episode on March 30th with a live show.

March is a wasteland of shows taking breaks, and I find that a bit frustrating. You never know if a particular show will be running on a given week, or if it's taking a few weeks off to premiere a mid-season replacement.

I'm tired of hearing reports of how Autumn Reeser (Taylor) "revitalized" The O.C. this season. Am I the only one who found her incredibly annoying? The forced pairing of her and Ryan was useless and really didn't make any sense. It was like the writers were saying, "Hey, we have these two characters, let's just put them in a relationship even if it doesn't make any sense for them to be together. The show's ending anyway." You know what: she didn't "revitalize" it that much, because now it's canceled. I don't dislike her as an actress, but the character was just annoying and had no chemistry with Ryan. They should have ended the series last season when Marissa died. To end this rant on a bright note, SoapNet is airing The O.C. from the beginning starting on April 9th. I miss the glory days of the first season of this show, so I may re-watch some of it, while I still have my Dad's satellite dish hooked up.

Speaking of said satellite dish, I've been recording tons of original Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes. Really enjoying them, and since they're only half hour installments, they're easy to watch.

Two of my favorite shows at the moment are Ugly Betty and Men In Trees. Ugly Betty is campy and just so much fun to watch; pure entertainment. I actually wasn't expecting to like Men In Trees, but I have grown attached to it. I think Anne Heche has had enough time out of the limelight to do this role and not have people only think about her past actions. I think she's doing well in the role and I hope she continues to grow the character.

ER is boring me. I'm not sure why I'm hanging on to watching it. It has finally reached a point where all of the original characters are gone, and the ones currently on the show don't do anything that isn't frustrating or boring. This is another case where TV critics attribute the revitalization of a show to an actor, in this case, John Stamos. Yeah, he's a more famous actor than most on the show, and perhaps he draws fans who previously didn't watch the show. So far the character hasn't really done anything to write home about. I suspect next season will be the last for ER.

When actors who are in a show together end up dating in real life, why do writers seem to want to pair them together onscreen as well? I don't understand why they have bothered to pair Cameron and Chase on House, other than the fact that they are engaged in real life. Can't people just work together? What's the harm in that? At least this has only taken the tact of them sleeping together and hasn't become a huge storyline on the show... yet.

Desperate Housewives. Better this season, but just put Gaby and Carlos back together already. How long is Carlos going to live at Mike's house?

I do like the addition of Logan (Chris Noth) to Law & Order: CI, but Vincent D'Onofrio, Super Genius, is still my favorite character on the show. It took the Captain (Eric Bogosian) a while to grow on me, but he's ok now. I do miss the ADA (Courtney B. Vance), though.

On regular Law & Order, I am not a big fan of the new female lawyer, nor the new female detective. They're meh.

Why can't ATV air Ebert & Roeper at the proper time? Why do I always end up getting pieces of CSI: Miami reruns?