Innocent Bystander

Comedy tonight...

Well...not necessarily tonight, but we are talking about two new sitcoms with movie stars in them, albeit supporting/indie stars.

I have always loved both Judy Greer and Parker Posey. Greer made the jump to TV a little while back in the short-lived Tom Cavanagh (AKA Thomas) show about the music industry, Love Monkey. She's an attractive, quirky actress, and in her new ABC series, Miss Guided, she plays Becky Freely, a guidance counselor who returns to work at the high school she graduated from in the late 80s. Greer is best known for playing best gal pal in a number of movies, good and bad, but is a great comedic actress and I think TV is the medium best suited for her The show is like her, quirky and funny, but the supporting cast is uneven. Chris Parnell (SNL) is great as the vice-principal in charge of discipline, but the rest of the cast is just kind of there and blasé. The pilot was cute and had some great throwaway moments, but the two episodes ABC showed Thursday night were amusing but didn't quite live up to the potential the pilot showed.

And then there's Parker Posey, making her TV series debut with a new series on Fox, The Return of Jezebel James. It costars Lauren Ambrose as her estranged sister. Posey is a go-getter career woman--a children's book editor--who finds out she can't have children and decides to ask sis to carry a baby for her. Hilarity supposedly ensues as this odd couple move in together, in Posey's posh pad (which changed from a little neighborhood house to a big two-story apartment from episode 1 to episode 2, shown back to back in Fox's infinite wisdom).

This show comes with a pedigree of sorts: It's created, written and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino, her first series after the much beloved Gilmore Girls. But there's a problem with JJ. It sucks. Posey is strident and seems like she's reaching for that last seat in the third balcony all the time. Ambrose seems lost. The supporting cast--so far just an erstwhile boyfriend for Posey and her personal assistant--seem miscast and also like they're in a bad high school play. And worst of all, from a creator known for writing lovable, well-written women, both Posey and Ambrose play unlikable characters. Add to that the worst case of product placement EVER--Posey's character works for Harper Collins' teen book division, and their logos and books are all over the place--and the most annoying laugh track EVER and you have a big, fat, over-written mess, read double-time in the Gilmore Girls tradition. Except that Lorelai and Rory were lovable. REALLY lovable.

The verdict? I'll give Miss Guided another watch or two, but it's coasting solely on Greer and Parnell at this point. Jezebel James? DOA.

Lost: "Because the island won't let you..."

I think it's a good thing that Lost is going away for a month or so. After a barn burner of a start, the last few episodes have been a bit of a letdown, but still enjoyable compared to other seasons. Tonight's, focusing on Michael, started promisingly enough, but in the end, two people lie supposedly dead, neither of which I could care less about.

I text-messaged a friend who I knew was also watching and told her Walt was the one to die tonight. It made perfect sense in the beginning of the episode. From a story standpoint, Michael is a tortured soul back in New York City, and it seemed like the thing that was driving him to suicide was the loss of his son. From a purely logistical standpoint in the show's production, the kid who played Walt has grown so much since we last saw him, he's pretty much unrecognizable, and no longer 10 years old. (The one glimpse we were afforded of Walt, from a distance, in a window, revealed what I think was a totally different kid in the role.) So I thought for sure tonight we'd learn what happened on the boat after Michael and Walt left at the end of season two and how they got back to the "real" world. But no such luck. No three-hour cruise. No rescue dawn.

What we did learn is that the island has far-reaching powers, and I for one am not thrilled with that thought. We knew it before, at least ON the island, but when Michael repeatedly tries to commit suicide in this episode, he's told he can't, because "the island won't let (him)." That revelation comes from Tom Friendly, the big burly Others henchman who follows Michael back to the mainland and tells him what he has to do next: Sign on to Charles Widmore's freighter heading out to the island. And kill everyone on board. Perhaps this will redeem his guilty conscience for killing Ana-Lucia and Libby (who is, evidently, haunting him).

So the "revelation" that we all suspected: Michael is Ben's spy on board Widmore's ship, has nothing really major attached to it. Ben played on Michael's guilt for killing the two women on the island and for abandoning his friends to get him to work for him. Surprising, yes, but no revelation.

Beyond all that, as we argued here (and with friends who also watch the show), Baby Aaron is one of the Oceanic Six. So that settles that.

I can use a month off. But the remaining five or six episodes better be as good as the first five or six of this season. Not that it'll matter much. I've tried to quit Lost before, but couldn't, because the island won't let me...

Lost in LOST...

For many years here at Innocent Bystander, I armchair-quarterbacked my favorite TV series, 24. Every Monday night, after an episode, I shared my thoughts, hopes and criticisms of the show. I can't pretend for a second to be qualified to write eloquently or even seriously about Lost, at least not on the level I assumed I was capable of for the adventures of Jack Bauer, nor do I have the desire to write about it each week. But as sure as there's no 24 on in 2008, Lost has become the most fascinating drama on network TV. Again.

I did watch the first season and pretty much grew tired of it towards the end. The second season sucked me in with the hatch storyline, but just as soon kicked me out, after the "Tailies"--people who survived the crash from the other end of the plane--were introduced. And the third season meandered about until somehow the show regained its focus and came back for a rip-roaring season-ending run of about 6 shows.

Now in season four, Lost has achieved a plateau unseen in its history. Each episode so far this season has revealed something new, and while Thursday's show--focusing on Desmond Hume, the Scotsman who was on the island, living in the hatch before the plane crashed--was the weakest of the year, it was still amazing.

Lost seems to have adapted the philosophy that made Heroes such a good show in its first season. That philosophy was giving the viewing public what it wanted: A nice, big, juicy bit of information each and every episode. In this, the first of its scheduled abbreviated seasons--16 episodes scheduled to run for 16 straight weeks over the next 3 years--Lost is doing that and throwing onto the pile a shovelful of great writing. Of course, into that 16-week schedule stumbled the Writers Strike, and we'll be left with a 13-episode season.

If you're not watching the current season, or are trying to get caught up with the show by watching the DVDs of seasons 1, 2, and/or 3, STOP READING NOW. Spoilers lurk ahead, even if I am a bit late to the writing about Lost party.

The last episode of last season revealed a new twist: the flash-forward. Lost has always relied on a two-tiered storyline. Each episode revolved around a particular cast member, and we were given a glimpse of their life pre-crash. Now we've learned that there's a group of people known as "the Oceanic 6," who got off the island. So far, we know four of them are Jack and Kate (both of whom were revealed at the end of last season), Hurley, and Sayid. Last week's episode revealed Baby Aaron is also one of them. That leaves one more. Is it evil Ben, also glimpsed in an episode this season? Granted, Ben has always had the ability to get off the island, one way or another, so I'm guessing he isn't part of the Oceanic 6. And obviously, as of Thursday night, Desmond is also off the island, but he can't be one of them since he was on the island before the crash. Also still MIA--but in the credits each week of season 4--is Michael (Harold Perrineau). One of the six, or one that got away on his own (Michael escaped in a barter with Ben at the end of the second season)? And while I'm not the one in my little circle of Lost devotees who came up with this theory, I think it's pretty obvious who Ben's spy on the boat is: Michael. This was underscored by the infirmary door suddenly being opened so Desmond, Sayid and Minkowski could get to the radio room.

In an article in last week's Entertainment Weekly, producers/writers Damon Lindeloff and Carleton Cuse revealed we'd know the identity of all six of the "6" by the time the show takes a break on March 13 (five additional episodes will air by the end of the traditional network TV season in May; Lost had eight episodes in the can when they debuted during the Writer's Strike). But everything we've seen so far only brings up more questions. And Lost is a show famous for bringing up questions...

To wit: How did Baby Aaron end up with Kate? The erstwhile criminal didn't even want to touch the kid as a baby on the island. And how much time has passed since they left the island? Baby Aaron is more like toddler Aaron now, looking to be in the 3 or so year range. And the presence of the baby certainly explains Kate's cryptic comment to Jack in the season 3 ender about getting back before he asks about her (or some such words..I forget the exact verbiage, which proves I'm an unfit Lost-blogger).

Are the other survivors still on the island or dead? Did Kate gain custody of Claire's baby because she's dead? Did she die by trying to leave the island, with that whole baby/mother thing that's been hanging around as a subplot since the beginning of the show? Was there some kind of wholesale massacre of the survivors, or did they opt to stay behind? Did only six make it out due to the island's wonky premise, that it seems to exist in some kind of other dimension, where time either stands still or moves faster? (Honestly...I can't figure out the physics on this, but then again, I have to think two or three times to figure out a tip these days.) Did only six get out because the "window of opportunity" to get everyone out crashed and burned at some point?

Other questions abound: Why does Jack so desperately want to get back to the island? Why is Sayid working as a hired assassin for Ben? Does Kate not want her mother to meet her grandson, because she knows she'll instantly know the baby isn't Kate's? Does all of this sound like some kind of soap opera on steroids? That's exactly what it is and more.

One thing is certain: Lost got bogged down in the past by the very thing that's making it great this year: the introduction of new characters. I'm not quite sure what the difference is, because the tanker folk seem to be equal to or greater in number than the Tailies and the Others. I think part of the difference is while introducing all these new characters, the producers are turning back to the original cast members--those that are left--who are the most popular, Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Hurley, and telling us new stories--involving flash-forwards on each of them. The episode on Sayid, co-written by comics writer Brian K. Vaughan, was one of the best episodes of the show, period. And the interesting thing about the show is how the dual nature of the storyline--island scenes with flash forwards (although last night's episode about Desmond played with time altogether)--has changed. Now the island scenes are in the past, the flash-forwards are in present time. At least, I think they are.

So, yeah. I'm lost in Lost this season, but unlike previous years, it's the good kind of lost. Totally immersed, almost drowning in it, occasionally coming up for air, but welcoming every time it pulls me back in, draws me back under, and makes me reel from it all.

Pioneers of Television: Variety

I just finished watching Part 3 of PBS's Pioneers of Television series, this one devoted to the all-but-dead genre of variety shows. I've enjoyed this series of documentaries, if only from the standpoint of each installment being a trip down memory lane. Truth be told, the entire tone of each program is reverential enough to border on pomposity, but there's an occasional great thing here and there.

But like I said, the real treat is in the "I remember THAT!" factor. I don't often think of Ed Sullivan or Andy Williams or Perry Como, but we watched them all when I was growing up, and TV, at least to my parents, who were raised on the radio (radios back then were really BIG), was a major treat. It amazes me how different genres captured our family's attention. My dad and brother were big on sports broadcasts; my mom variety shows, especially those hosted by singers; and my grandfather, westerns. Science fiction shows like The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, even Star Trek, were "kook shows" to my father, absolute bliss to my brother and me. And even though none of us inherited Gramps' love of horses and six shooters, we all gathered around the big Admiral console to "ooo" and "ahh" over life on the Ponderosa on Bonanza in "living color" each Sunday night at 9:00. Everything was good in color.

My mom swooned over "Moon River" by Andy Williams, or "Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime" by Dean Martin. We watched both shows religiously, but her favorite was Perry Como, the unassuming singer barber from Canonsburg, PA, who wore his colorful sweaters and was so laid-back you thought he was somnambulant. We watched the Dick Van Dyke Show in reruns, because Perry was on opposite him. Perry we watched "new." Dick we watched "old."

I'd take some issue with tonight's PoT on variety shows, though. I can agree that from a racial standpoint, Tony Orlando and Dawn can be seen as a pioneer, but not in the true sense of what the show seems to represent, the people who started TV in the 40s and 50s. Tonight's episode included The Smothers Brothers, too, and I'd have to object to that. Although a lot of the shows they mentioned, included Smothers and Laugh-In were very different kind of shows, the real pioneers in tonight's episode were Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, the insufferable Arthur Godfrey (think just as clueless, egotistical and annoying as Larry King today), Red Skelton (whose best and most likely to laugh the hardest audience was always himself, a fact that became more and more cloying as I grew older), and Sid Caesar and Your Show of Shows. I wouldn't even include Carol Burnett, to be honest. She was the last great variety show, but not exactly a pioneer.

The producers have a bad habit of editing comments to the point that you just know there's another gem coming from Jonathan Winters, Dick Van Dyke, Tim Conway, Andy Griffith, or maybe even Pat Boone, but they just cut. I'd almost prefer to see these expanded to 90 minutes, and more comments and actual shots from the show. As such, they're kind of blasé. There's one installment left--on game shows, but I will admit to thinking there should be a fifth one on newscasters--next week. I'm guessing it might be hard to be as reverential about Monty Hall and Bob Barker, but of course Groucho Marx will be a part of the show, too, so there you go. As usual with PBS, check your local listings, read your horoscope, sift through your tea leaves, and keep watching the stars to discern when it airs in your local viewing area.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Fox's new show, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is of course, a continuation of the movie series. They pretty much blow off the forgettable Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which is fine, but they do keep one salient plot point to good effect: the fact that Sarah Connor dies of leukemia. The second episode ended with her in a clinic getting a blood test.

There's not much to the show; it's pretty much one big chase, but it's an enjoyable big chase. A touch of class is brought to the proceedings with the presence of Lena Headey (300), the titular star. She brings a melancholy, warmth, and cynicism to the character of Sarah Connor that Linda Hamilton could never hope to attain. The kid is still the kid, this time played older by Thomas Dekker, who is more likable here than he was in Heroes. (At least he's minus T2's annoying whiny voice of Edward Furlong...and Furlong, too, for that matter.) But the MVP of the show so far is Summer Glau, playing the naive and blank-faced Terminator charged with coming back to save John Connor, one assumes so he can grow up and become Christian Bale in the fourth movie, due out in 2009. (Shouldn't we all have died by now because of SkyNet? Or do the machines spare movie theaters?) Glau is wonderful as the robot babe-in-the-woods, and the interplay between her and Headey has been great. (Sarah calls her "Tin Man.") There's some ties to the past, and a jump to present time that cleans up some plot threads, too, and allows the establishing of some new ones.

The bad news is only nine of these shows (out of an initial order of thirteen) were completed before the WGA Strike, so it will more than likely be an abbreviated season. It's worth a look; it's not Masterpiece Theatre (nor even 24) by an means, but the first two hours were entertaining, in a fairly mindless sort of way. And don't we all need a fairly mindless sort of way every once in a while?

Program Note...

The People's Choice Awards, hosted by Queen Latifah, are being broadcast by CBS tonight.

Well, I am a people, and my choice is not to watch them. You, as a people, too, can make your own informed decision.

Pioneers of Television

PBS debuted its new 4-part series on the early days of network TV last night. Pioneers of Television part 1 focused on sit-coms and took a fairly in-depth look at 3 of them, with a fourth one mentioned and glossed over a bit. The sitcoms were Jackie Gleason's The Honeymooners (with comments by the only surviving cast member, Joyce Randolph), I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show (with Andy and Jim Nabors), and The Dick Van Dyke Show (with Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore). Getting a briefer mention was Make Room for Daddy (The Danny Thomas Show), with comments by daughter--and sitcom star herself--Marlo Thomas.

There wasn't a lot of new stuff here, if you're an old TV buff like me, but what they did show was enjoyable. Mary Tyler Moore had some wonderful comments about Lucille Ball, and Barbara Eden also talked about her one-episode stint on that show and how she had to hide from Desi Arnaz, who evidently took quite a liking to her. Van Dyke and Moore both look great, and even Art Linkletter, looking older than Moses, commented on a couple of shows. Disturbingly, both Van Dyke and Moore go on about how much of a role Carl Reiner played in the creation and execution of their show, but Reiner is nowhere to be found in the special.

I haven't really watched any of these shows in years. I'll always have a soft spot for all of them, but I think the one thing that struck me the most while watching this special was how different the Dick Van Dyke Show was, especially when it came to Rob and Laura Petrie's interaction. They showed a wonderful clip with Rob just home from work asking where their son was, and when he tells Laura he wanted to have time alone with her, her face lights up and she excitedly asks "What do you have in mind?" Even as a kid there was something vastly different about this TV couple than Beaver's mom and dad, or Robert Young and Jane Wyatt, or even Lucy and Desi, who were married with children in real life. Moore was incredibly sexy to me--at a time when I didn't even know what the word MEANT--and you can just see the chemistry between her and Van Dyke. It practically drips off the screen.

The series continues on PBS on Wednesday nights throughout January. The remaining 3 episodes focus, respectively, on late night TV (Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, and of course, Johnny Carson), variety shows, and game shows. As usual, check your local listings for times near you. With PBS, you never know...it may only air at 4:00am on a Tuesday with a blue moon.

Best of 2007: Television

(Please note: Our "Best of 2007" series contains books, comics, DVDs, movies, and TV shows we read or watched during the year, not necessarily those published or produced during the same year. As with any "Best of" list from anyone--including God--these recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt. Your mileage will vary, but if you're truly interested, click on the links below and buy away. Your humble author will get a small percentage of the proceeds.)

Last but certainly least on our list of our own personal Best of 2007: Television. And you know what? TV sucked in 2007 (that's why it's least). There were a few brief shining moments, but even 24 was a major letdown after getting better and better through seasons one through five. I'm about to watch season 6 on DVD, and I will adopt my selective viewing procedure that so effectively saw me through a lackluster season 2 of Heroes: Fast-forwarding or skipping altogether any scenes with characters I despise. On 24, that will include just about every scene with President Wayne Palmer and his sister, and his adviser Tom Lennox. Oh, and I'll probably skip altogether the "Rainman" episode where some idiot savant saves Jack's ass and got the writers another hour down in the completed column. Hey...I'm only watching it because there isn't going to be a season 7, at least not in January. With the continuing Writers' Strike and Kiefer Sutherland still in jail, 24 may not be on at all in 2008.

Enough. Here's what I did like in 2007 on the teevee.

Returning Shows:
30 Rock
This was the year I warmed up to this wonderful series. I watched it when it first debuted and couldn't get into it, and then it won the Emmy for Best Comedy and the next day Borders offered a 40% off coupon on DVD boxed sets coupon and I bought the first season. And fell in love with it. Tina Fey is my new hero...she's smart, she's funny, she's sexy, and she anchors the show, pulling all the disparate characters into her orbit. Alec Baldwin is absolutely incredible (there's no funnier scene on TV this year than Baldwin role-playing Tracy Jordan's father). I've warmed considerably to Tracy Morgan, who always left me cold, and the supporting cast is great. It's a close call between 30 Rock and The Office as my favorite comedy shows right now.

The Office
A little lackluster this season, but I love the way they're playing out the Jim/Pam romance, low-key and realistic. I fear that this show might end with a big typical NBC move, like a wedding, but hopefully that's far down the line. I seem to detect a little fading of interest this year on Steve Carell's part, but I could be imagining it, and a little distraction could be predicted, since he seems to be in just about every other movie these days. There's still some brilliant and touching moments in this series, and I'm pretty much constantly surprised by the way the romance between Michael and Jan (the wonderful Melora Hardin) is playing out, especially the lawsuit episode where Michael has to testify about their relationship when Jan sues her former--and Michael's current--employer, Dunder Mifflin. The best way to watch this series is still via the DVD boxed sets. They contain a wealth of extra material, including almost 10-minutes per episode of cut scenes.

Lost
I periodically get so lost in Lost, that I vow never to watch it again. Evidently I'm not the only one, because the producers made a course correction this year and the final eight or so episodes were great, a real return to what made the series so wonderful in the first place. I still have no desire to watch this again on DVD (but you might), so I'm not buying the sets, but I am looking forward to the abbreviated series that is set to debut on Jan. 31--only 8 episodes--due to the Writers' Strike.

New Shows:
Torchwood
Torchwood is the best new show on the air this year, bar-none, and I'm not much a fan of science fiction TV. I love the Cardiff setting and all the characters: the enigmatic Captain Jack Harness (John Barrowman); saucy copper Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles) thrown into this brave new world of aliens and time travel; the surly, sullen, and superior Owen Harper (Burn Gorman); shy scientist Toshiko Sato (Naoko Mori); and receptionist Ianto Jones (Gareth David Lloyd) who is as mysterious as Captain Jack. The show is constantly tweaking conventions, especially when it comes to sexuality. If you think Captain Kirk nailed anything that moved, you ain't seen Captain Jack--or anyone else in the cast! This spin-off of BBC's Doctor Who series is wonderfully complex and vividly realized, with an ongoing storyline about "The Rift" and how the 21st Century is where it all changes, a nexus of alien invasions and just generally bad mojo. After the initial 13 episodes (shown, thankfully, in a row on BBC America without a break), which ended earlier this month, the second season jump starts on Jan. 26 with all new episodes. The DVD set is out on Jan. 22, and promises SEVEN HOURS of bonus material. (I'm thinking part of that voluminous time is extended episodes...I think the BBC programs normally run about 55 minutes...here in the States, Torchwood clocks in at about 44 minutes per episode. Or at least I'm hoping that's the case.) If you're not watching this, start with the DVD. You'll want to see each and every episode in the proper order.

Chuck
You can almost write about Chuck and Reaper in the same paragraph, but I won't. They're both shows about 20-something young males working in dead end warehouse store jobs, with great power and responsibility suddenly thrust upon them. But they each have their own separate charm. I was thinking I liked Reaper more, but Chuck had a sudden 3 or 4 episode surge before it went off the air that made me really sit up and take notice. Chuck (Zachary Levi) has a new top secret CIA program downloaded into his brain, making it possible for him to flash-recognize people, objects--you name it--and discern their importance and/or attached scheme. He's assigned two people to keep an eye on him, the surly NSA operative John Casey (Adam Baldwin), and the comely CIA agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski). Oh, and we're not the only one that notices that Sarah is "comely." Romantic hijinks ensue. Chuck is incredibly likable, witty, well-written, and all the actors work well together. I kinda miss it right now.

Reaper
Reaper has a more interesting premise than Chuck. The lead character, Sam (Bret Harrison), had his soul sold to the Devil (the incredible Ray Wise) when he was born, and Satan takes possession when Sam turns 21 and makes him into a bounty hunter. Together with friends Sock (Tyler Labine) and Ben (Rick Gonzalez), they hunt down escaped souls from Hell, and recapture them in "vessels" supplied by Satan. The vessels are usually something weird like a Zippo lighter or a remote control car. But the vessels and sometimes the souls themselves are usually Maguffins to highlight some other plot point, like Sam's ongoing romantic efforts with co-worker Andi (Missy Peregrym). Reaper is kind of the shaggy dog cousin to Chuck, and I've loved each and every episode.

Network television, you are dead to me now.

With tonight's broadcast of 30 Rock, the 2007/2008 television season comes to an end, almost 6 months early. At least in theory. With the writers' strike continuing--and no end in sight--30 Rock's final new show means there's nothing left on the big 3 networks (+ netlets Fox and The CW) that I will watch. No 24 in January. No word on whether or not Lost is coming back in February.

Well, there is the newly christened Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (someone finally came to their senses and decided to add the franchise name to the title, a rare moment of clarity for Fox), which debuts in January and has--I believe--13 episodes in the can. But I'm not going to watch Marie Osmond fake faint on Dancing with the 'tards so she can sell dancing Marie dolls, nor will I ever participate in the orgy known as American Idol. None of that dreck is my cup of...well, dreck. And the only way I'll watch The Celebrity Apprentice is if they shave each "celebrity's" head when they're fired, set them on fire and make them run down Fifth Ave. in New York. THAT I'd watch. American Gladiator? Clash of the Choirs? Excuse me while I projectile vomit.

I support the writers in their effort to earn more money from their work and its ultimate destinations. I despise the producers for thinking they can claim that the Internet has no monetary value when they run commercials before you even begin to watch anything. In fact, I pretty much refuse to watch anything online from any of the major networks. I have downloaded stuff from iTunes, and I fully believe the writers should be compensated for that new area of business. I'm reasonably sure that the writers of popular songs--whether they sing them or not--get a cut of iTune sales.

So here's a giant "Bah, Humbug!" to the producer grinchs. Even though December is, traditionally, a time of annoying "specials" and month-long reruns, the studios and production companies have pretty much ruined television for the foreseeable future. Let's hope this strike doesn't go on long enough to do the same to movies, although we may be better off if some movies never see the light of day.

Heroes and the WGA Strike: I cry black tears every time I watch...

Heroes has slightly redeemed itself over the past few episodes, but for a show that learned in its first season not to fall prey to all the pitfalls Lost did in its second and third seasons, it certainly seems that Tim Kring and company forgot it all during the summer break. Now the WGA strike will mercifully cut this season short, ending it in 3 short weeks.

Heroes made all the same mistakes in its second season that Lost did. It introduced too many new characters, only one of them--Elle, played by Kristen Bell, and coasting pretty much on that actress's innate appeal--who's even remotely interesting. There's the two South American characters, one of which, Maya, the woman, kills people and has black blood flow from her eyes. Her whiny brother--I don't even speak Spanish, and I know he's whiny--watches her use her power and--you guessed it--whines about it. Then there's Micah's cousin, whose amazing powers include jumping rope, imitating wrestling moves, and evidently mastering the Kitchen Magician™, all simply by watching others. Nichelle Nichols is slumming as Michah's aunt or some-such family member. There's the whole Irish clan that Peter is hooked up with, fake accents and boringly borderline menacing. There's the cheerleader's dull, slightly-stalkerish new boyfriend, who can fly. There's a killer stalking the early generation of heroes. And don't even get me started on the cop and the scientist playing My Two Dads with the obnoxious girl who sees things, evil things, scaaaaaaaaaaary things. At least Hiro finally came back from feudal Japan.

It's all too much, too lame, too unfocused.

Last night, they took some major steps to correct it all. There's still stuff that requires some judicious usage of the fast-forward button, and I heartily recommend you record this on the technological device of your choice and utilize that option. Personally, any time Maya and her whiny brother start speaking Spanish, I hit the little right-pointing arrow-key. Also, when the Kitchen Magician™ chick shows up. Since Hiro is back from Japan, my finger gets a little rest these days.

And I guess that's our own secret hidden power these days, and something that's at the heart of the WGA strike. We now have the power to watch--and more importantly, NOT watch--what we want, when we want. The TiVo, the DVR, whatever your box is called, has changed the way broadcast television is viewed. And because of that the networks must find new ways to make money. One of those ways is the Internet. Perhaps you've heard of it?

There's really only one side in this strike and that's the writers' side. The Internet is new technology and no network or studio is ever going to convince me--or anyone with half a brain, even those addled by watching too much TV--that they're not making money off it. Me? I'll gladly pay more money to buy a show off iTunes or a DVD if part of that money goes to the writers. And the studios and networks are greedy enough to pass that cost onto us, the end user. (It's ironic--and in incredibly bad taste on NBC's part--that in the middle of last night's episode of Heroes, a commercial pops up for "Create the Next Hero," sponsored by Sprint. I'm pretty sure NBC didn't run that advertisement--nor the entire campaign based around it--out of the kindness of their heart, because they love Sprint.)

I've spent the last two nights watching Jekyll, the excellent BBC series on DVD, and each episode starts the same. "Jekyll by Steven Moffat." The BBC got it right. While the documentary on the DVD clearly states it was the producers who got the show rolling and contributed to the tone and scope of Jekyll, Moffat is the writer, and the series is BY him. American television is much more of a committee-run affair when it comes to writing, but there is the rare singular voice. But none of that matters, because in any TV show there is an idea that becomes a plot which becomes a script which is filmed or taped as an episode. Try doing any of that without a writer. And no matter what the vehicle is that delivers it to the public, TV, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray, VHS, Beta, 8mm Castle Films that you have to hold up to the light to see, it all starts and ends with those writers. Without them, we're stuck in a Bizarro World of TV where everything is reality. And we all know how dull and boring reality is. Why do you think we watch TV?