I Have a Black Belt in Tae-Kwon-Flo

Well I survived one more day of NBC ticketbox, so yeah, that's an accomplishment.

So here I sit - tired, out of it, unable to think many clear and lucid thoughts. So bear with me.

DANNY'S LIGHTSPEED TV SHOW REVIEW-O-RAMA OF JOY:
(aka how I review things when unable to process much in the way of comprehensible ideas ...)

- PRISONBREAK: Monday's episode was great - this show is one notch away from the plateau of action-adventure thriller that 24 currently sits atop by its lonesome. A great cast, thoroughly enjoyable characters, and a plot that is unfolding slowly but surely with plenty of intensity and energy so I remain interested week to week. You know how a drama is really succeeding? When you instantly remember the characters' names - because a.) they sound cool, and b.) they are memorable, cool characters. I remember Michael Scolfield. My grade: A -

- ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT: Oh please, will you just FRIGGIN' WATCH THIS SHOW ALREADY? Yes, YOU! Apparently the ratings for Monday's brilliant season premiere were less than stellar, and that just makes me sad. This episode was hilarious, clever, amazingly acted and ingeniously written - the best single episode since early on in season 2. As usual, David Cross as Tobias was golden, and George Michael Bluth is becoming one of TV's most endearingly awkward characters. WATCH IT! My grade: A+

- GILMORE GIRLS: Another great episode, poured on the schmaltz a little too much for my tastes, but at this point it's all nitpicking since I am hoplessly wrapped up in the ongoing saga that is these characters' lives. No other show mixes humor, drama, and quirky wit like this one does. My grade: A -

- MY NAME IS EARL: Hey man, I already reviewed this a while back, so chchcheck it out. Like I said then, it has potential, a lot of potential actually, but for now there is no way that this not as clever as it wants to be show lives up to the ridiculous amount of hype and promotion its gotten from NBC and the mainstream press. Should be interesting to see what the ratings are though.

- THE OFFICE (U.S. VERSION) - This season premiere was, most importantly, FUNNY. Since not many shows can actually claim that, you should REALLY be watching this in support. I know, I know, I ragged on this show to no end previously. But while it's still not the British version, it's still better than what else is out there. This ep tried to incorporate some of the British version's human drama, and did so with somewhat mixed results, as the Jim-Pam relationship is still no Tim-Dawn from the UK edition, not yet at least. But with talent like Steve Carell and Rain Wilson bringing the funny, that's kinda okay for now. My grade: B

For the love of God, I know, too much TV.

But one more comment: I feel that LOST has started an annoying trend among scifi TV shows where producers think it's somehow now acceptable to not fully show your show's main antagonists, ala Ridley Scott's less-is-more approach in the original Alien. Since Lost has gotten away with going a whole season without revealing the true nature of the island's "monster," show's like NBC's Surface now think it's okay to have a show ABOUT sea-monster-alien-things, and yet never SHOW the sea-monster-alien-things. How is this acceptable? On The X-Files, when there was an episode about a sewer monster, you saw the damn sewer monster in all its gruesome glory. This hidden in the shadows approach does work SOME OF THE TIME, but only once it a while can it be pulled off with any degree of success. But now every show thinks they can wait a year before actually showing us the aliens, sea monsters, or whatever it may be. Sorry guys, but I only have patience to wait for one excruciatingly long and slow-progressing monster mystery to be revealed at a time. And I swear, if tommorow's season premiere of LOST doesn't tell me what's in that flippin' hatch, I will flip out ninja style. And SHOW ME THE MONSTER! (and don't tell me some lame crap like "oh yeah, it's not an actual monster but just our ID come to life!").

So, some last minute suggestions for what should be in the hatch on LOST, that would all be pretty mind-blowing in their own way:

- Elvis
- Heaven
- Buried copies of Atari's 1980's ET videogame
- Missing Left Socks
- aliens
-ninjas
- clones
- Dick Cheney
- something really, really, coooooooooool

ANYWAYS:

WORK:

Real exchange at work today:

-Man rushes in and comes up to ticketbox.
MAN: I'll take one copy of Las Vegas: Season Two on DVD.
ME: I'm sorry, we don't sell DVD's.
MAN: WHAT?!?!
ME: Yeah, sorry, we don't have them here.
MAN: But I drove all the way from Pasadena to get it! This is crazy!
ME: Yeah, you're probably better off just going to Bestbuy ...
MAN: Fine! (MAN storms off in anger)

- Tommorow: FIRST EVER TIME WORKING FOR ... LAST CALL WITH CARSON DALY. Like, ohmigod!

MISC:
- It rained in SoCal today - and as usual hell on earth erupts since people here treat rain like its a sign of the apocalypse.

- Perfect Strangers was a great show.

- Make me your friend on myspace.com and/or thefacebook.com

- Explain how Carson Daly has his own talk show. Somebody? Anybody ...?

That's about it for now, my brothas. Unfortunately I'm too tired to give you my complex thoughts on the socio-political state of the world at the moment. Maybe some other time. In the meantime, imagine what I might have said, write it down, and study, study, study.