Yeah, yeah, I'm 25 now. Who cares? On to TV Reviews ...
SMALLVILLE:
The great thing about Smallville is that it's always been pretty reliable in a certain respect, in that, even when the show is slumping, it typically manages to pull a pretty great episode out of nowhere for its big season premieres and finales. Well, with this season premiere, that streak of consistently awesome season premieres may be over, and that's really a shame. Smallville is one of those shows that you reall want to root for too, because for all its faults, its heart is usually in the right place. There are certain little moments - bits of characterization, the dichotomy of Superman and Clark Kent, the evolution of Lex Luthor as played with flashes of brilliance by Michael Rosenbaum - that make it impossible for me to just dismiss the show outright. I want to like it, I like most of the cast - I mean, I'll take Erica Durance as Lois Lane over Kate Bosworth any day - and I think the show deserves a lot of credit for proving that superheroes could be viable on TV - Heroes et al owe this show a huge debt of gratitude.
But why, oh why, must this show be so cheesy and lame of late? While the first two or three seasons of the show expertly balanced a sense of fun and adventure with some legitimately smart and interesting human drama, the last few years of Smallville have often felt like a great big joke. I think Lana becoming possessed by the spirit of a witch may have been the true jump-the-shark moment, but really, it's just been that the whole series has gone from striking a great balance between epic and cheesy to becoming one big bucket of cheese.
This season premiere had a lot of action and drama compared to a typical Smallville ep, but it just felt so uneven, and was definitely a victim to the many tired cliches that have dragged down this show over the years. How many times is an alternate version of Clark going to act oddly around his friends, without them realizing that this isn't actually their old pal (witness last night: Bizarro Clark cartoonishly putting the moves on Lois, her simply brushing it off as his reaction to hearing about Lana's death --- whaaaaaaaat ...?). And it was a necessary evil of the show's premise at first, but ENOUGH ALREADY with people (last night, it was Lex, again) on this show being knocked out cold JUST IN TIME for clark to come on to the scene and use his powers. Geez, I don't think Silver Age comic books were this consistently goofy. And how about the fight scenes? I mean, I recognize this is a fantasy show, but can it least apply a LITTLE logic? I mean, Clark is getting beaten silly by Bizarro, who is pumped up on kryptonite power. They have a decent fight going, and then ... it's all over when ... Clark simply PUNCHES BIZARRO INTO THE SUN. Ummmm, what? Lame, lame, lame.
Now, there was some cool stuff here, don't get me wrong. Erica Durance was a lot of fun as usual as Lois, and she and Tom Welling have a pretty fun chemistry even when they are put into jsut about the stupidest situations ever. I actually like the angle of Lana faking her death and going on the run, so that as cool. Rosenbaum was really good as always, though I hope they keep Lex more towards the dark side and don't revert him back to being more on the side of good. It's high time for Smallville to embrace EVIL BASTARD LEX in all his villainous glory. Alex Mack as Chloe has long been, in many ways, the heart and soul of the show, and she was in good form in the premiere, with her shock at being dead and then suddenly resurrected handled pretty well. Where was Jimmy though? I'm also intrigued with Lionel's mysterious capture - who, I wonder, has hauled off the senior Luthor? Supergirl, aka Kara Zor-El, had a decent enough introduction, and it seems like they may try to borrow from the comics' Lex-Supergirl romance from the comics, which could make for some cool storylines down the road. Hopefully, the actress playing Kara is at least decent, hard to tell right now, though she was a little awkward-seeming in this ep.
But this was a very messy episode. For all it's well-handled pieces, there was so much going on that seemed totally random and incoherant. I mean, does Clark now live on the farm by himself? Is he in college? I couldn't even tell you. Has it even been explained yet who or what J'onn J'onnz is? Sure, we comic fans know him as the Martian Manhunter, but you wouldn't know that from watching Smallville. Why does Clark trust him at this point, and when will he do something cool rather than just stand around and dispense cryptic advice? Meanwhile, what could have been an iconic villain showdown was mostly a wasted opportunity - why make Bizarro simply an evil version of Clark? Haven't we seen that 10 million times already on this show? It would have been awesome to see Clark go up against a truly insane, monstrous, and yes - backwards speaking - Bizarro a la in the comics.
This show seems to be coasting a bit, and it's not helping that the writing has been pretty clunky. The Supergirl saga could be a nice running storyarc, but i hope that at the same time, the show can also focus on the further development of Clark and Lex, which is really its core, and what makes the show really click. As it is, this was a decent, pretty enjoyable premiere, but one that was plagued by a number of problems that have hurt this show in recent years.
My Grade: B -
THE OFFICE:
Plain and simple: this show suffers when it's an hour long. The plotlines get stretched out, and the jokes get stretched thin. Last night's Season 4 premiere was a perfect example of this, as things quickly grew a bit tired and the show seemed to really drag a bit. By the midway point, I wasn't sure what was going on, why everyone was participating in a charity run to raise awareness for rabies, and sadly, I kind of lost interest in the whole thing.
This isn't to say that the episode didn't have a number of classic Office moments. The highlight to me was Creed's hilariously random admission that he belongs to a number of cults. Hilarious! Dwight was cracking me up the whole time as well. His facial expressions were simply priceless, especially when he had to deal with Angela going on and on about her cat. The fact that he murdered said cat is absolutely hilarious - I wish they had shown more of Dwight contemplating doing the deed, as that would surely make for some hilarious inner-conflict. The whole Jim and Pam thing was handled really well, I thought. I like the more subtle look at their relationship as opposed to the melodrama that began to creep in last season. To me, The Office does that kind of story best when it happens on the periphery of the workplace hijinks. When the whole "will they or won't they?" thing becomes the show's focus, it loses a lot of what makes it funny and unique.
However, I feel like Michael Scott just kind of lost me in this one. Some of Steve Carell's schtick just seemed really off the mark, and one of his gags, where he went on, and on, and on, thinking of animal combinations that could be worshipped as gods, was more painful to hear than funny. He also seemed more irrational and over the top than usual. Sure, we've seen Michael do a lot of odd things in the name of his own warped sense of logic, but the whole Fun Run was just so nonsensical, I never really "got" what Michael was trying to accomplish with it, even thinking in terms of his skewed worldview.
So, there was some great stuff here, but the ep just seemed a little unfocused and the writing and humor wasn't as sharp or as consistent as I've gotten used to. Looking forward to seeing more of this season though - this is still one of if not THE best comedy on TV.
My Grade: B
MY NAME IS EARL:
- The season premiere of EARL suffered from a similar problem to that of The Office - overly long at one whole hour and therefore feeling too decompressed and drawn out. I found myself tuning out at Earl's attempts to navigate prison-life, and getting back into things when the ep focused on Randy's attempts to adjust to life without Earl. Ethan Suplee is hilarious as always, and makes even a dumb, throwaway line of dialogue stand out and pop. Crabman is another favorite of mine, and he got off some classic lines in this one. Enjoyable, but not tightly written enough to maintain interest over the entire hour.
My Grade: B
LIFE Pilot Review:
I really like a lot about this show. For one thing, Damien Lewis is great as the lead - what could have been a one-note character is given a lot of depth and charisma by Lewis, playing a wrongly-accused cop who gets released from a ten-year prison sentance after new evidence exonerates him. Newly-free and back on the force, Lewis' character now has a quirky, Zen-like perspective, and is prone to firing off random philisophical comments like he was Phil Jackson with a badge.
My frustration here has to do with the limits of network TV. I mean, why exactly is this show a procedural? The weakest part of the pilot, by far, is the obligatory "case of the week" that Lewis and his partner tackle. I know that for me, when you have a show like this one with strong characters and an interesting ongoing mystery, I'd be so much more interested if it just ditched the procedural stuff and focused on multi-part story arcs that could really go in-depth and expand the scope of the storytelling. As is, Life is a very well done procedural with a twist, the twist being that there's a quirky main character and also an ongoing, Prison Break style conspiracy subplot. I just would like to see the show ditch its more formulaic trappings and present stories that really push the limit, because they have a great lead actor and a lot going on that is rife with story potential. But LIFE is a quality show that deserves to be a success - personally, I'm less inclined to watch a police procedural than a lot of other types of shows, but there is enough that's compelling here to get my endorsement.
My Grade: B+
- Alright: I'll be back later with more.
Happy Birthday to Me!
- This weekend: party in downtown Pasadena!
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