Television

[barton2]

Person of Interest, which I felt wobbled a lot on takeoff, seems to be improving, if last night is a fair sample -- an hommage to "Rear Window,"  trying to figure out who a stalker/peeper is in an apt. complex, with Reese healing up in a wheelchair.

The Firm - caught episode two.  Watchable, a little cheesy, good ensemble.

   

[kidcarter8]

FINDER was quite good.  

It may, as many shows do, come down to if you like the actors.......

I've always liked Jeff Stults (October Road, Happy Town.....)

Michael Clark Duncan (The Whole Nine Yards) as well

Of course the hot fed chick helps..............as does the witty writing...

[barton2]

"Touch" was a trifle too new age mystical for me, but it's great to see Kiefer back to rescuing the world, or pieces of it.  Looks like last night was some sort of preview, as the "premiere" is late March.  Sort of an odd concept, where the pilot and the premiere are two distinct things.  Maybe they wanted to roll something out concurrently with "Extremely Loud etc." (which also concerns an autistic boy and a parent lost in the Twin Towers collapse).

[harrie]

We saw the start of Touch as we were flipping around.  First it was "Oh, Kiefer Sutherland has a new show."  A few seconds later the reaction was "Oh, no - numbers."  We flipped out.  May be back when the show goes on full-time, but for now it just seems like a little number overload.

[barton2]

Yeah.  I can do 'Traz or I can do Touch, and I pick 'Traz.  For one thing, Sarah Jones is cute as a button.  For another, this week brought two Deadwood alums, the barkeep Tom and the broom engineer Jewel.  And a mysterious set of keys.  And a con who likes to steal....stories.  Ray Bradbury would like that idea.   

[harrie]

I must confess, I forgot completely about Alcatraz last night because The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills started their reunion last night.  Yes, it's so so wrong, but I'm hooked on them like Kim Richards is hooked on ... whatever she's on.   I'll have to see if I can Hulu or On Demand the 'Traz.

[vpiazza]

i've been watching traz, wanting to like it, but finding myself off put by the level of psychopathic violence.  i stopped watching criminal minds for the same reason.  i like the stories and the cast, but that level of brutality on a regular basis is not what i want in tv these days ...

[barton2]

Believe me, VP, I know what you're saying, and I've trimmed a lot off my tv viewing by avoiding most procedurals and the forensic "people-are-meat" series.  If Alcatraz focuses more on psycho killers, and less on the time-jump mysteries,  I will probably gravitate away from it.  The "Killer of the Week," shows can get tedious and depressing, when they go that route.  Criminal Minds is the worst offender (and not exactly an acting showcase, either), and I only watched a CSI recently due to curiosity about Ted Danson joining the team (and Marg Helgenberger leaving).

BTW, welcome.  So nice to have a newbie who isn't bent on selling us wedding gowns or software for Iphones.

 

 

[vpiazza]

no spam from me, i promise 

i stopped watching csi when they brought laurence fishburne in, and made him boss and lead.  i think marg's character should have been promoted.  i enjoyed criminal minds because they really explored the psychological aspects, but the grimness got to be too much.  i've been watching lots of bbc shows, doctor who, torchwood, sherlock, merlin, MI5, etc.

i was attracted to alcatraz because it has the same premise as 'the 4400' which i enjoyed, but which they tortured before they killed 

the amount of trash and reality shows that are on the air really make me frightened for the people of this country.

(so fun to be a newbie again.  i was on the forums back when they were on the times, and only just rediscovered them today)

[harrie]

While I won't even try to justify watching a "reality" show - which I fully realize has nothing to do with reality - a former NYT forum moderator called RHOBH "fascinating and important TV."  I disagree with some of her statements - like the use of the word important; and the phrase "truly great television"  - but I feel better about having this monkey on my back.  At least I'm in good company.  (There'd be a winkie here if I used them.)

Welcome back, vpiazza.

re Alcatraz, I have a feeling they're taking their time developing any time-warp/traveling angles - like, suckering people in with the gore of the week, then about eight episodes in .... huh? wha? (that's the time travel twist there) - which may end up biting them in the butt.  As in, viewers not waiting around for the twist. I mostly caught up on the episode I missed, and silently thanked the Coens (not) for making the general public aware of that particular implement.

[barton2]

Which Coen film are you talking about?  Mental block here.

[harrie]

No Country for Old Men.


Okay, so the Alcatraz guy didn't splurge for the accessory hose package, but he definitely used a bolt gun. (Or did I watch the wrong episode? Hmmm.)

[barton2]

It was a true mental block.  Thanks.  Yeah, it was a bolt gun, sans hose.  I missed a few minutes of the show, maybe where it was made clear what it was.  I somehow saw it as some kind of homemade gun.

[harrie]

Towards the beginning, the perp took out someone who walked into the safe deposit box area; the perp had the bolt gun up against the guy's forehead, the guy was begging that he has a family, etc. I thought it was pretty graphic for network.

Person of Interest last night was pretty good, with lots of twists; I don't know how I feel about the fixer woman, though.  She's a worthy adversary for Harold (or Ben, as he's known at casa harrie), which could be fun. 

[vpiazza]

yeah, the bolt gun was pretty graphic, hence my reluctance to continue with this show.  i'll try one more episode, i think.