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Oct. 2nd, 2007 @ 07:12 am wiwt
What I'm watching tonight: Reaper

Last night:

Kind of a disappointing episode of How I Met Your Mother -- the first episode that felt like a spec script, regardless of whether it was and whether there have been others. It felt like any other sitcom, and like there would have been minimal changes if you'd cast the characters of some other show; three plotlines that, if they haven't been done exactly that way on other shows, have at least been done -- which I think made everyone feel a little out of character. (And worse, the Robin plot felt like it was just wrapping up loose ends from the premiere.)

Bigger disappointment on Aliens in America, where the recasting was ... a bad choice. I really don't think it's just that I'm used to seeing Scott Patterson play Luke; he gave virtually the exact same line readings as the original actor (and I'm only saying "virtually" because it's been a few months since I've seen the original pilot and am allowing for memory error), and trying to do a thin reedy voice doesn't work for him, and kind of makes him sound like Luke mocking someone. What the hell? I can't have been the only viewer distracted by it. It's not like Gilmore Girls was an obscure show, especially since he's still on the same network.

Heroes was eh. Again, no strong feelings one way or the other.
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Oct. 2nd, 2007 @ 11:25 am (no subject)
Two weeks with Netflix, and they've already sent out two discs that were on Very Long Wait. I don't think that even happened the first time I joined, so I wonder if they're classifying as VLW some discs that used to be Long Wait. It threw me off, I was expecting to have them send the Paul Lynde Halloween special today, but it's disc 1 of Popeye instead.
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Oct. 2nd, 2007 @ 09:04 pm (no subject)
Boy, ABC really likes advertising Pushing Daisies, doesn't it?

It premieres tomorrow, and I am so spacey on cold medicine that who knows what I'll remember when, so to remind you of the upshot: though I said it has no hope in hell of staying on the air, I do like it. As with Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls, the weird near-asexuality of the lead rubs me the wrong way for some reason -- it's context-driven in this case instead of just an "ew cooties" reaction by the character, which is good because as hard as that is to accept from an adolescent female lead, from an adult male lead audiences would just reject it -- and I don't find the premise as interesting as either of those shows. But, hell, there need to be more shows like Wonderfalls on the air, and I'll take something not-quite-it and maybe-not-as-good over Carpoolers.

(To be fair, although I think Carpoolers isn't very good, Til Death set such a standard for terrible sitcoms that everything this season looks like All in the Fucking Family in comparison.)

I forget what I was talking about. Yes, Pushing Daisies. Don't take my prediction of its failure as a warning not to watch and get attached -- first off, ABC clearly wants it to succeed and will probably keep it on longer than it would otherwise, second I could totally be wrong (I don't know a critic who doesn't like it), third you can bank on the fact that a full-series DVD release will come out no matter how many episodes air.

My "not as good as Wonderfalls" take could also be in part because Lee Pace was so good as the brother on that show, and in the Pushing Daisies pilot he's playing the lead with far less teeth. But hey, it's just the first episode. Who knows.
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