Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Review-O-Rama: Veronica Mars, Smallville, Heroes, and MORE

Alright, so the Fall Season in TV Land is heating up and it's time to weigh in ...

First up:

VERONICA MARS

- Last night's Season 3 premiere was, again, a huge breath of fresh air amidst a glut of network dramas that try to pass themselves off as intelligent and adult, when in fact they feel produced by-committee and fresh off the development assembly line. Finally, a show that continually blows me away with the originality of its voice and its stubborn refusal to fall neatly into any single genre. Finally, I found myself watching a show that felt smarter than me - a show where, as an aspiring writer, I found myself watching and admiring the cleverness of the dialogue, the richness of the characters, and the intricacies of the plot and its many unraveling mysteries. Finally, Veronica Mars was back!

As a whole, VM was as slick, intelligent, and fun as always. However, the premiere did have an unusally lightweight feel to it compared to the past two season openers. There was no real sweeping, epic mystery unfolding - everything was on a much smaller scale, and overall things felt more, well, laid-back than usual. Even Veronica looked less rebellious and both figuratively and literally she seemed to let her hair down. But hey, that opening scene where Veronica out-sleuths everyone else in her Criminology class was classic Mars. I have to say though, I was kind of clueless about what Keith Mars was up to with Ms. Casablancas. Maybe I missed something, but I felt very in the dark about what was going on with his subplot. Hopefully it will be clarified sooner rather than later. Ultimately though, this was an excellent ep that just happened to feel more like a midseason episode than the huge, earth-shattering season premiere I was sort of expecting. It set up Veronica's new life at college very well, introduced some great new characters (you have to believe that that Criminology prof. is going to play a large role), had the usual sharp dialogue, and had Vinnie Van Lowe to boot.

But wait - one HUGE complaint. CW, WHAT THE #$%& were you thinking when you changed the opening theme song?!?! The new intro is okay, but that remixed, slowed-down version of The Dandy Warhol's We Used To Be Friends SUCKS. Bring back the old version ASAP, ya' hear?

Otherwise, good stuff, and I'm sure it will only get more interesting from here. Keep in mind, this was a great ep, but I hold VM to a high standard than many shows as it so regularly churns out A-level episodes.

My Grade: B+

GILMORE GIRLS

- Another episode that felt slightly off, very ambling in places, but ultimately won me over thanks to some great scenes. Namely, the opening was amazing - Luke punching out Chris was as cathartic for us viewers as it must have been for Mr. Danes. The humor with Kirk opening his own diner was kind of hilarious as well, though I think they did go a little overboard in making Kirk kind of a douchebag rather than merely annoying. The bits with Lane were okay, but the whole sex/pregnancy angle felt forced to me and too soon, as we haven't even seen her take on the role of wife yet, and already she is going to be a mother? The Rory-Lorelei scenes were also kind of long and rambling, but ended in a good payoff with Rory's revulsion at her mother's reunion with Chris. But, I know Lorelai and Rory are more like sisters than mother-daughter, but I was definitely cringing as Rory repeatedly yelled at her mom for sleeping with Chris. Just very awkward to watch. Still, I thought Luke's scenes were handled very well, and a nice little theme was established with him and his semi-dysfuntional family. Some good stuff, but still very hit-and-miss in the post-Palladino era.

My Grade: B

- Sidenote 1: Odd that both CW shows last night, Gilmore and Veronica, both featured very prominent references to Battlestar Galactica. I'll have to get around to checking it out sometime, but even without any knowledge of BSG lore, the inner geek in me loved both Luke's discussion of the space/time continuum and, most of all, Veronica's gleeful use of the word "Frak."

SMALLVILLE

I know, I know, this one is late. But I didn't watch until Friday evening and I somehow forgot to mention it in yesterday's blog. As far as the premiere of Smallville goes though, well, it was disappointing in that it was a decidedly mixed bag. I say disappointing because, while it was a pretty good episode, past season premieres of Smallville (along with season finales), have more often than not been total home-runs, one of the few times when the show could be utterly counted on to knock one out of the park. This wasn't a home run, but it had its merits.

Basically, this show still squarely resides in a yellow-tinged zone of pure cheese. Exhibit A: Clark being trapped in the Phantom Zone = cool. Clark immediately meeting a hot girl also trapped in the Phantom Zone who knew his father before Krypton exploded = pretty lame. Zod wreaking havoc on earth = kickass. Zod doing so via a ridiculous looking mechanism that triggers a computer virus (hello, Independence Day) = lame and cheesy. But man, give some credit to Michael Rosenbaum as Lex / Zod. Under any other actor, Zod inhabiting Lex's body would have been all kinds of ridiculous, but somehow, someway, Rosenbaum made it work, even if this is now the approximately 1 billionth time that someone on Smallville's mind has been taken over by an outside entity. I also thought the intro of Jimmy Olsen was kind of lame ... why take one of the all time classic geeky-cool fictional characters, Superman's pal, he of the signal watch and bowtie, and make him into just another WB-ized pretty boy. This show continues to stick to an endless array of tired, played out, mind-boggling cliches - new characters introduced as slightly modified Type A WB model-actors, people traveling great distances to speak one line in person rather than using a cell phone, characters randomly entering each other's homes at will, mind-control as the uber plot device to end all plot devices, trips to the Smallville medical center more frequent than Robin Williams' trips to rehab .... the list goes on and on.

And yet it continually saved by stellar performances from Rosenbaum and John Glover as Lex and Lionel Luthor, a steady and dependable Tom Welling as Clark Kent, and a feeling that, even though the writing on this show can be aneurism-inducing, that, somehow, its heart is in the right place as far as staying true to the legend of Superman is concerned.

To that end, this ep did some things very right - great action between Zod and Clark (even if the line "Kneel Before Zod" was milked to its absolute limit), great visual f/x in the Phantom Zone that put just about every other scifi show on TV to shame, and an overall sense of scope that really made this episode, for all its weaknesses, feel more Super in many ways than Superman Returns. Yes, it had to be said people.

This remains one of the most up and down shows on TV - at times totally mired in formulaic writing and frustrating logistical gaps, yet continually worth watching for its momentary flashes of greatness that remind us why Superman is one of our most enduring modern mythologies.

My Grade: B

Now, as for that OTHER superhero show on network TV ...

HEROES

Well, I said this show has potential, and I still feel that way. But the problem with a show like this, where nearly every character and situation feels directly influenced by something else, is that when I think about where it's headed all that comes to mind is: will it be like this comic book, like this TV show, like this movie? Because as much as I want to like this show, I just don't feel like it has anything original to say as of yet. Unlike Lost, which came out of the gate with a spectacular pilot brimming with characters and mysteries that begged for further exploration, Heroes seems to be kind of coasting along, merely connecting dots from Point A to B to C.

So far for me and I suspect most others, Hiro is, BY FAR, the standout character on the show, and his scenes are far and away more interesting than any of the other characters'. Hiro feels original, like a fresh thought, a fresh take on the disaffected Japanese office drone. His situation is interesting - how does someone so immersed in fantasy culture react to becoming a living, breathing embodiment of the comic and scifi heroes he obsesses over? So far, Hiro is fun, interesting, easy to root for -a great character. I wish the same could be said for the others ...

Nearly every other character on Heroes feels ripped from some other work of speculative fiction. Sure, some of these sources are rather obscure, but I think that most people can tell when a character or situation is an original labor of love rather than a variation on a theme. It's why the brilliant creations of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby survive and thrive to this day - they are iconic, larger than life, yet relatable. And sure, a character like The Hulk is a variation on the Frankenstein myth, which is itself a variation of the Golem legend. But these larger mythological themes are fair game to be adapted to new situations and eras. What doesn't fly is taking the specifics of a character or story - the powers, the personalities - all the minutiae that Heroes borrows from comics and sci fi - but lacking the power of the overarching themes, the iconography, that make superheroes the new mythology of modern America.

My point is - two episodes in and I'm thinking - okay, we've got people with powers, the threat of nuclear disaster, interconencted characters - all elements I've seen before. So, the larger question is --- What the heck is this show ABOUT?

Right now, it just seems like it's throwing all these bits of pop-cultural goo at the viewer. For example:

Claire - the teen cheerleader / reluctant hero reminds me a lot of Courtney Whitmore, aka The Star Spangled Kid, created by Geoff Johns - she even looks similar.

Her powers and possible manipulation by a government agency of some kind, of course, brings to mind the X-Men's Wolverine.

Her videotaping her powers is similar to a storyarc in Will Pfeifer's seminal comic H.E.R.O. (an award-winning comic which also explored the theme of what normal, everyday people would do if suddenly given powers).

Her keeping her powers a secret from her high school classmates, except for from her crushing, geeky friend, and other aspects of her character strongly remind me of the series Bad Girls from a few years back.

Ali Larter's character - her dual / hidden personality brings to mind the DC character Rose and Thorn.

The psychic cop - we've seen variations of this on shows like Pretender, Millenium, and others, and also recently via the DC character Josie Mac, created by Judd Winnick.

The computer that can track people with a metagene of some kind - anyone's who's seen X-Men can spot the similarity to Charle's Xavier's mutant-spotting device Cerebro.

A superpowered serial killer who is knocking off fellow metas - reminiscent of Alan Moore's classic Watchmen murder-mystery (as is the ominous threat of a nuclear disaster that can only be stopped by metahumans), and more recently of J. Michael Strazcynski's Supreme Power - a realistic take on how society and the government would react to a sudden emergence of super-powered beings. The entire concept of Heroes, in fact, is similar to Supreme Power and JMS's Rising Stars.

The two brothers with differing personalities but linked powers calls to mind the comic characters Hawk and Dove, and the one brother who tries to downplay his powers in order not to overhsadow a promising political career is similar to Brian K Vaughn's Ex Machina.

And of course, the interconnected characters, mysterious symbols, and ambiguous themes of purpose and destiny and fate are all, intentionally I'm sure, similar to TV's reigning fantasy hit - Lost.

And so on ...

Of course in this genre of fiction bits and pieces of past works inevitably work their way into new stories. But my point is that Heroes needs its OWN identity, its OWN premise, its OWN characters in order to thrive and live up to its potential. I see that potential in Hiro, and in bits and pieces of the story, but mostly I feel like I'm seeing what amounts to Watchmen-lite, to Supreme Power-lite, to Lost-lite.

That's my main gripe, though the stilted dialogue (esp. from the Indian cab driver - everytime he talks I wanted to flip channels), uneven pacing, and unimpressive f/x (the flying needs work) don't help either. But like I said, so far I'm at least somwhat entertained, still intrigued, and hopeful that things will soon pick up.

My Grade: B -

- Speaking of LOST, I am very excited, once again, for tonight's Season 3 premiere. JJ Abrams is cowriting for the first time since the series' pilot, and early reviews indicate good things. Even if tonight's ep really is all that and a bag of chips, I hope that that only means we can look forward to a new season that recaptures Season 1's brilliance and takes the show to the next level. Adapt or die, I say.

- Will maybe give JERICHO one last shot tonight, it's one of those trainwreck-y shows that, like I've said, is pretty bad but just makes me wonder where the writers will take it next. I wonder if the ratings will be affected by Lost's premiere?

- Speaking of ratings, the CW has just been getting killed thus far. Didn't the WB's top shows like Smallville and Gilmore, in their peaks, score in the 4's or even 5's? I might be wrong on that, but it makes me wonder where Veronica's low-2's rating places it in relative levels of CW-measured success. With only one new show (Runaways, already a bust), and no big in-its-prime returning show other than low-rated Mars, CW is really in a tough place. One little piece of advice - if you want shows like Gilmore and Veronica to grab a broad audience, maybe even attract more male viewers based on positive buzz, don't make me feel like a total tool while waching by running those Aerie Girl vignettes or whatever, with a bunch of teenage girls sitting around and discussing each show during commercial breaks! As if it doesn't already take enough convincing to sell my male friends on the merits of Gilmore and VM, now us guys have to be subjected to this de-masculating filler?

- Alright, I am out for now. Back later, as the countdown to Halloween begins ...

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