TV Diary
1. Standoff
I've watched this show on and off because it comes on after House, but I don't know if I'll bother keeping up with it, let alone if it will last in general. There have been so many stupid hostage negotiation movies that have played out every imaginable scenario that trying to come up with some new ones to burn through every week seems like a terrible idea, and adding Moonlighting-style playful sexual tension doesn't really help, nor does the fact that Ron Livingston is prettier than the girl.
2. The Class
The other three shows on CBS's Monday night lineup (How I Met Your Mother, Two And A Half Men, and The New Adventures Of Old Christine) are all pretty good and this kind of lame new one is the only thing holding it back from a NBC-Thursdays-in-the-90s dynasty. At first it was on at 8:00 so it was easy to avoid, but now it's at 8:30 right in the middle of things and I'm trying to give it a chance. Aside from the terrible premise, it seems like they've already started segmenting the cast into pairs and trios of characters that do scenes together but barely interact with the rest of the cast, which makes it feel even more fragmented and anonymous than it is. There are some funny bits, although most of them are from the bitchy hot chick (who looks even less like her character from Mean Girls now than Rachel McAdams does), and some of the other storylines are completely worthless (like the couple that bad things keep happening to who are written as so overly sweet/innocent/twee that they come off as borderline retarded).
3. C.S.I.
This is still a pretty good show, in spite of its formulaic nature and the inferior spin-offs. What's bugging me now, though, is how often they seem to put the characters in harm's way as a ratings grab. Considering that the first episode centered around a rookie C.S.I. getting killed at a crime scene, the show has at least been consistent with its thesis, which is that these aren't just lab nerds, they're cops and they're in the line of fire too. But in the past couple years, we've had Brass almost getting killed, Cathering being raped, Nick being buried alive (which was actually a pretty good episode), and most recently Greg getting the crap kicked out of him by Kevin Federline. It's just getting to be a bit much. Also, all the minor characters they've added, even the ones that have been around for two or three years now, like that one blonde woman, still feel really anonymous and unnecessary, whereas the main cast that's been around from the beginning are all pretty well written and have distinct identities.
4. Scrubs
I never watched this in prime time and always kind of assumed it was crap, but now that Comedy Central has started running two episodes a day, I've kind of gotten sucked into it and it can be pretty funny, if wildly uneven and prone abrupt shifts in tone. Sometimes all the wacky sight gags and maudlin sentimentality work, sometimes the only good stuff is the Dr. Cox rants and the bits with the janitor. The second-Becky-from-Roseanne girl is hot, but it seems like there were entire seasons where someone was letting her make really terrible hair and makeup decisions.
I've watched this show on and off because it comes on after House, but I don't know if I'll bother keeping up with it, let alone if it will last in general. There have been so many stupid hostage negotiation movies that have played out every imaginable scenario that trying to come up with some new ones to burn through every week seems like a terrible idea, and adding Moonlighting-style playful sexual tension doesn't really help, nor does the fact that Ron Livingston is prettier than the girl.
2. The Class
The other three shows on CBS's Monday night lineup (How I Met Your Mother, Two And A Half Men, and The New Adventures Of Old Christine) are all pretty good and this kind of lame new one is the only thing holding it back from a NBC-Thursdays-in-the-90s dynasty. At first it was on at 8:00 so it was easy to avoid, but now it's at 8:30 right in the middle of things and I'm trying to give it a chance. Aside from the terrible premise, it seems like they've already started segmenting the cast into pairs and trios of characters that do scenes together but barely interact with the rest of the cast, which makes it feel even more fragmented and anonymous than it is. There are some funny bits, although most of them are from the bitchy hot chick (who looks even less like her character from Mean Girls now than Rachel McAdams does), and some of the other storylines are completely worthless (like the couple that bad things keep happening to who are written as so overly sweet/innocent/twee that they come off as borderline retarded).
3. C.S.I.
This is still a pretty good show, in spite of its formulaic nature and the inferior spin-offs. What's bugging me now, though, is how often they seem to put the characters in harm's way as a ratings grab. Considering that the first episode centered around a rookie C.S.I. getting killed at a crime scene, the show has at least been consistent with its thesis, which is that these aren't just lab nerds, they're cops and they're in the line of fire too. But in the past couple years, we've had Brass almost getting killed, Cathering being raped, Nick being buried alive (which was actually a pretty good episode), and most recently Greg getting the crap kicked out of him by Kevin Federline. It's just getting to be a bit much. Also, all the minor characters they've added, even the ones that have been around for two or three years now, like that one blonde woman, still feel really anonymous and unnecessary, whereas the main cast that's been around from the beginning are all pretty well written and have distinct identities.
4. Scrubs
I never watched this in prime time and always kind of assumed it was crap, but now that Comedy Central has started running two episodes a day, I've kind of gotten sucked into it and it can be pretty funny, if wildly uneven and prone abrupt shifts in tone. Sometimes all the wacky sight gags and maudlin sentimentality work, sometimes the only good stuff is the Dr. Cox rants and the bits with the janitor. The second-Becky-from-Roseanne girl is hot, but it seems like there were entire seasons where someone was letting her make really terrible hair and makeup decisions.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, November 04, 2006 at 5:48 PM.
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