Everybody Loves Saturday Night

Season 3 Bones Finale

I'm coming out of a looooooooooooong posting hiatus only to say - Season 3 bones finale - Holy Shit!!

That's unfortunately all I can say, as the owner of this blog is still on Season 1.

You got a lot of catching up, girl.

Hello, 2008. Goodbye to TV?

The strike is really too depressing to talk much about.  Let's just say: a) the writers are completely in the right, I mean COME ON, they make 7 cents off a DVD and NOTHING off Internet?  and b) all joy is gone until the big corps get off their butts and realize the # of people who will actually watch reality TV every stupid night is far smaller than the amount who appreciates well-written TV.  Right?  Fuck, I hope so.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles started last night / continues tonight.  I loved it.  A little backstory / some good fights.  Everyone is beaten down and miserable and barely keeping it together.  Good performances by the three leads.  I'm looking forward to more, although if you read the article in the latest EW, I do have concerns given the actors all seem a bit lost without the writers there during the majority of the filming (9 eps written out of 13 pre-strike, but the writers not around to discuss even what was already written).

And as for a mid-season (but potentially end-of-season) review of everything else I'm watching:

Brothers & Sisters. I still enjoy the repartee, and still enjoy watching Justin and Kevin... but I think it's pretty lame that EVERY marriage has to wind up with infidelity on this show. Same old, same old. Watch out, Calista & Rob, you're next!

Heroes.  First half of season sucked ass. Last four eps were fairly awesome, at least up to season 1 standards.  Not thrilled to be getting sucked back in...just in time for the strike.  But this is definitely one of the shows I enjoy more on DVD (as with LOST).

K-Ville.  Predictable and overly melodramatic. But enjoy the two leads and their buddy/partner chemistry.

Bones.  MY FAVORITE SHOW OF THIS SEASON (even over #2 FNL knocked out of the top spot and #s 3 Pushing Daisies/Office tie and #4 Life) Loving it. Loved every minute of this season. So sad not to be seeing new episodes right now.

Reaper.  Up and down but for the most part I do enjoy each episode even when afterward I think "What was the point of that / or they forgot about this / or they dropped the ball on that".  None of it has lived up to the Kevin Smith-directed premiere for me. Ep 3 was close but all else has been mediocre in comparison. Still laugh at it though, so find it worth watching.

Gossip Girl.  At first I was only watching this on iTunes but since it's one of the few with new eps left, I've moved to watching it in real time.  A guilty pleasure, indeed.  It's like The OC but without the annoying attempt at seeing real life next to the rich kids.  Even Dan and Jennie are not Ryan Atwood poor.  There are no well-meaning, morally upstanding (despite being rich) parents (Sandy Cohen, I'm talking to you). It's all boys, bitches and bling. What's not to like.

Pushing Daisies.  My #1 new show of the season.  The sweetness and charm, and the retro rich colors of the filming.  So much to love.  (So much to miss.)

Life.  My #2 new show of the season.  Love the lead, love the partner chemistry with both his old & new partners, love the fight to lead a zen life vs. the fight to get revenge. Love the creepiness of the bad cops and the bad non-cop dudes. Love it all.

The Office.  Continued to be brilliant. Funny and crass and yet sweet and kind, all at the same time.  Nobody does that better.

30 Rock.  As funny as the Office with a little less sweetness (there really is no situation comparable to Pam/Jim on this show, in my opinion).  Comedic actors doing the type of brilliant work they would never get recognized for on the big screen.

Grey's.  Sucks.  Contrived. Ridiculous. Trying way too fucking hard.

Friday Night Lights.  (STILL HAS AT LEAST ONE OR TWO NEW EPS LEFT) Still love some of it.  Still has these just blindingly beautiful moments of true feelings / true situations / bitingly real scenarios.  At the same time, so much of it has been very contrived this year (and not just the murder mystery).  Some of the really good bits are starting to be overshadowed by the ridiculous bits.  Peter Berg, would you please step back in and get control of these writers (when the strike ends, I guess) as almost none of the episodes have held a candle to last year's.  It's like they actually didn't know which parts made them a success and have gone off in the wrong direction. (And p.s. let's have dinner, you and me.)

NUMB3RS.  Still not what it once was. But last few episodes have had some nice tension and some nice scary-without-a-zillion-shoot-em-ups bits.

I think that's all I've been watching in real time.  Isn't it?  Man, can't even remember, now that most shows have gone dark.  Still catching up with How I Met Your Mother on iTunes, I'm somewhere in the second season. 

And looking forward to the beginning of Lost and Jericho, although I don't think there's a full season written of either one, is there?  Didn't watch last season of The Wire because the schoolroom focus was just too painful to watch. Will probably try to watch it on DVD at some point so going to save the current season for then. I do love me some James McNulty though.

Rounding up last week.

Dear Michelle,

Last week was pretty rough on the Duff household's TV viewing and even after a somewhat relaxing weekend, I still have DS$ to go! 

Reaper was OK.  I don't feel as "why oh why isn't it as great as episode one? why is it disapointing us?" as most critics I'm reading.  On the other hand, I think "STOP WHINING."  Several times Sam has come to the "this is actually sort of a worthwhile thing to be doing" realization...and then comes the next episode and "WHY do I have to do this and WHY can't I get time off and WHY is some other dude liking Andy" to which I say "would you like some cheese with that WHIIIIIIINE?"  I am still entertained enough but I would like a little "YEAH LET'S GO KICK SOME ASS" and maybe not crying so much about having to do it.

Pushing Daisies was awesome. But of course.  The bees!  And how they always confront their latest issue.  They always have the talk and poor Emerson in the backseat listening.  And how Olive's jealousy just couldn't overcome the affection she's begun to feel for the Aunts. And when Emerson said something like "A MAN NEEDS MORE YARN".  And the old cars, and the wooden arm and the wooden leg with the secret container of diamonds...  So much love for this show.

The Office was good, but A-HA I KNEW in losing some of its time (length, per episode), it would also lose some of its tenderheartedness.  I yelled A-HA I TOLD YOU SO when I read this post by the AV Club.

Bones was awesome. So many good things going on with that show right now but you don't watch it so bygones.

Life was pretty good although they toned down both the zen quirky AND the fruit obsession sooooo much.  Can they just tone down one or the other?  Reese's slowly oncoming zen-ness, which is making her crazy, is a pretty funny touch though.  I'm worried that the White Roosky as I called him (did he not wear white in every scene he was in?) will become a recurring character.  There are already a shitload of characters on this show.

30 Rock I didn't find that funny.  Enjoyable, yes.  Outright laughing, not much.  Alex Baldwin is really a master of mimicry, no?

And as for Friday Night Lights, I felt that, as has been the case this season, there were a LOT of things to love but still a few things to NOT.  Smash and Saracen are, presumably, going to be a big focus this week as they got short shrift.  Tim is slow on the draw but once he gets there, he's THERE.  All in, asking for help. 

What did you think of last week's shows?  Are you ready for Heroes tonight?  Can it step up its game? 

HEROES, I ask you [you, the show, Heroes, not you, Michelle, or you, the other Reader(s)], DID YOU COME TO PLAY?  Then hey, why don't you?  Stop with the lollygagging and the moseying around and fucking play.

OK back to workyworky.  Smooches to you.

p.s. I still don't know your weekly viewing schedule. Is this not a NEED TO KNOW item? Yes, it is!  GO!

Bones: So Sweet!

Since I got home at midnight, I only had time to watch one show last night (out of Monday (from which I've only watched Heroes so far) & Tuesday's offerings), so I of course chose Bones.

There were a lot of great things about this episode: Hodgins and Zach's fights!, Angela's tension, the wasp!, Cam and Bones competition, Booth's both shock and giggling over all the horse-y stuff...

But certainly the most awesome moment was his speech at the end.  Holy crap, boy, that speech was practically as good as the one Kevin Costner gave in Bull Durham (see the extended text...).  Wow!!! 

How Bones was able to hold back from reaching across that table and planting one on him, I just don't know...

Bones Is Back!

Yay!  I know it's not the world's greatest show, but it does make me a lot happier than some of the ones that are technically higher quality...

Wow, Hodgins looks so cute with his new haircut!  Love Booth trying to be all gentle with Bones while at the same time clearly going nuts that she's pulled so far back from their "detecting" work together.  Cam is still sorta on the outskirts, but she's quite sassy about it.  Oh Zach!  You're too sweet.  His face when he tells Cam what the military pyschologist said?  They didn't deserve you!  The hilarity of the search for Angela's previous husband!  Her complete lack of memory; Hodgins' freaking out over his HEIGHT.  There are so many funny things happening there. 

And of course this episode introduced a new serial killer.... CREEPY!  Yay!  Loved it.  Anyone else watching this?

Bones makes me smarter. No, really.

Altho Bones is so much more lighthearted than the other forensics shows, there are still all these cool facts and analysis.  I loved all the stuff about bone density in space, and the dude trying to use coral to regenerate it.  There is such a teeny tiny part of science lover in me, TV has the perfect amount!  As to Hodgins/Angela.  Hmmm.  Not sure what the hesitation is.  He certainly "did it right" this time (oh and if you read the FOX discussion boards - which I swear I never have before - apparently there was an episode skipped due to its similarity to real events (will the TV people never get over doing this. come on. we can deal!) where presumably the first "wrong" proposal took place).  But at least if she keeps saying no, that keeps the romantic tension alive, doesn't it.  :)  Loved the final couple minutes. I am down with the Bones/Booth harmonies.

Last week's House & Bones: A disagreement.

Not between the shows, but between me and my friend GirlDetective. She didn't like either House or Bones last week, I liked them both.

House:
I agree, the whole fetus grabbing House's hand was creepy and so not in the vibe of this show: Did the pro life movement pay the bills on this episode? Yet, I really liked the episode. I enjoyed the bits with the photographs, and the revelation of Chase & Cameron's "affair", and the tension about whether she's just in it to make House jealous, and the little things the pictures revealed to them, and to us.

Bones:
Sure, there was no Stephen Fry, but I don't think he's actually going to become a permanent part of the show, is he? His appearances have all been funny, but I would expect his story arc to be over very soon if it isn't already. And unlike my friend, I always love the episodes with/or about Bones' parents. I loved that the interaction between Bones & her dad about the old sappy Paco song turned into interaction between her and Booth.

Crying:
We've discussed this a few times now, GirlDetective and I. Does it spell a bad episode for you automatically if there's crying from any of the lead characters? It is a case-by-case call for me: on a show like Lost, it seems like yeah, yeah, not this again. On Veronica Mars, it seems like the episodes where someone winds up in tears are also the episodes where Veronica falls into all the same-old traps and it's like the writers have forgotten all she's been through and never get her credit for learning from her mistakes. On Friday Night Lights, however, it feels true to the characters and the way their lives seem right now: the trauma of high school = you could bring me to tears just thinking about it.

Bones: Not Excellent, But Pretty Good.

Really enjoyed Bones last night.  Lots of tension between Bones and Booth, between Angela and Hodgins (between Zach and everyone).  Loved the bits with the "psychiatrist" and with Angela calling him out at the end.  Loved how befuddled Booth can be, yet calmed. 

Only quibble: the mystery was too easy.  I knew from the get-go who was responsible.  Am I to assume it took Booth & Bones so long to figure it out, purely because of the tension?  That they were distracted?  Not sure if we were supposed to think that or not.

And FYI the lovely song played during the final few scenes was "This Time Comes" by Nina Gordon (formerly of Veruca Salt).

Bones: EXCELLENT-AY!

Great episode of one of the funniest shows I watch.  Bones is not only a) a sociologist in relationships who says things like "it makes perfect sense for us to sleep together, given the herd-like tendencies of mammals or whatever, blah blah" but she is also b) the boy in relationships!  Oh no! He likes me!  BE MEAN TO HIM!  Get him away!

David Boreanz did a great job in this episode of trying to support his obviously flustered friend while at the same time maybe being a little frustrated that it's not him she's flustered about.  His reactions to both her and the Silly G-Man that I adore were really great.

The bit players seemed to have smaller parts this week than usual, but they were still awkwardly sweet (Zach), funnily cute/flirty (Hodges and Angela) and a little snippety (Cal).  Totally enjoyed it.  More, please!

Bones Gets a Boyfriend.

I have loved the last two episodes of this show and it's in no small part to Brennan hooking up with nutso crazy G Man. a) He is super fun. b) He would drive me INSANE. c) He drives everyone kinda insane! d) Him and Brennan hooking up is totally driving Booth insane.

Also: Jack/Hodgins & Angela = AWESOME. Hodgin's back story with former fiance being played by Meredith Monroe (or "Andie" to you Dawson's Creek fans!!!), who I am only two degrees of separation from (I know a boy who knows her "boy" or husband if you need to call it that). Zach still being all "yo I'm a PhD now baby".

Is anyone else watching this show? I even love David Boreanz on it even though I don't like it when he smiles on the show. Because he always gives this really weird kinda PSYCHO grimace-y grin. I like it much better when he's all bitter and sarcastic and moody. Oh, and Angel fans: are those his (actual) tattoos? Or are they "for" this show, i.e., because he's an ex-Marine sniper?