Grading 2010′s New Shows, Part 1

“Louie” – FX, Tuesday 11 PM

Synopsis: Part autobiographical, documentary style show about the life of Louis CK, a misanthropic middle aged divorced comedian, part surreal weirdness… interspersed with bits of real stand-up footage.
Our take: “Louie” is by far our favorite new show of the season. The stand-up alone makes it funnier than almost anything else on TV. Early on, the show struggled to mash together all of the elements, but as the season went on, it really started to come together. It seamlessly transitions from the profound and meaningful to purely absurd filth like nothing else we’ve ever seen.
Grade: A

“The Event” – NBC, Monday 9 PM

Synopsis: The first episode is not the event. The second episode is not the event.
Our take: They should have called this show The Lost V-Files. They’ve blended a lot of elements of “Lost”, “V“, and “The X-Files“, to create a sort of mediocre science fiction soup.  (Which, coincidentally, is one of Emeril’s least popular recipes.) There’s a lot of jumping back and forth in time, and most of the dramatic interest is derived from the writers not telling you exactly what’s going on. Their hope being that you’ll be curious to find out what’s going on. Despite its hamfisted effort, I was a little curious. “The Event” fails, however, at creating even one character worth rooting for, so I doubt I’ll be back for episode 3.
Grade: C

“No Ordinary Family” – ABC, Tuesday 8 PM

 

Synopsis: When a vacation to Brazil goes awry, and by “awry” I mean their plane crashes into a glowing river, one ordinary family develops super powers.
Our take: “No Ordinary Family” is not at all something I’d watch, but for what it’s going for – sort of a watered down “Modern Family” crossed with “Heroes” – I think it does a decent job. I’ll even admit to chuckling a few times. My only complaint is that Michael Chiklis was laying the cheesy kid’s movie dad stuff on a little thick. In the comedy scenes it worked well, but in the dramatic family scenes, it didn’t seem to fit.
Grade: B-

“Rubicon” – AMC, Sunday 9 PM

Synopsis: Will Travers cracks codes and analyzes government intelligence for a living. When his boss/father-in-law is killed, he’s sucked into a whirlwind of conspiracy and intrigue.
Our take: In fairness, the bar for AMC shows is extremely high. “Breaking Bad” and “Mad Men” are arguably two of the best shows on TV now and ever. But for me, the “Rubicon” intrigue is wearing a little thin with the turtle speed pace the show has set for its mystery. To illustrate the slowness, it was ten episodes before the two leads (Will and Katherine Rhumor) finally met up, so everything from episodes 2-9 was at best a baby step and at worst, irrelevant. The two most amusing characters, Miles, the nutty analyst and Kale Ingram, the dour boss, are almost distractions from the main plot. It’s good enough that I’ll keep watching, but the pace is frustrating.
Grade: B+

“Hawaii Five-O” – CBS, Monday 10 PM

Synopsis: Two cops with enormous capped teeth fight terror on the front lines… in the tropical paradise of Hawaii. Also Jin from “Lost” and Boomer from “Battlestar Galactica” are there.
Our take: I made it about ten or fifteen minutes before I had my fill of Alex O’Loughlin’s faux badassness. He’s still the guy from that J-Lo movie to me. For a network show, the action scenes were pretty impressive.
Grade: D

Unnecessary Censorship and Hanso Training Video for the Lost Finale

Lost: The Final Countdown

One week from today Lost will be over for good. Crazy. So now is a time to ponder the remaining mysteries as well as look back over the good times. We start on the pondering side of things:

What’s with the gooey black stuff coming off of Locke here?

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have apparently quit doing interviews between now and the finale, but they did a good one with Alan Sepinwall a few days ago that is worth reading. Here is a little taste:

Damon Lindelof: In terms of what Jacob allowed, what he didn’t allow, what The Others did of their own volition, with Ben basically saying “This came down from Jacob” is all in the area that is subject to interpretation purposely. What our intention was is that there is a repeating vicious cycle that seems to happen on this island, where people come to the island, they try to figure out what makes the island work, and the closer they came leads them to their own inevitable demise.

Check out the rest here.

To move on to remembering some of the fonder moments, we start with a sweet Hurley montage. His epitaph will read “Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes. He said ‘dude.’ A lot.”

And last but not least, my favorite moment in Lost history. I suppose this gem could work pretty well on a gravestone, too.

More Kimmel and Lost fun: Jacob and the Man in Black’s game

Lost haiku

Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) is having a Lost haiku competition on Twitter.  The winner gets tickets to his Lost Finale special, and the deadline is May 19th.  We wrote six entries.  I guess there are spoilers in here if you’re not caught up on the current season.

Locke is the black smoke.
He will rip your damn face off.
I am so scared now.

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We have to go back!
Don’t tell me what I can’t do!
Want my kidney back!

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Remember Eko?
The huge Nigerian guy?
Mr. Eko?  No?

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There is one Lost rule:
What happens on the island
stays on the island.

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Hurley sees the dead.
That was a Jedi moment.
Dude.  Dude!  Dude?  Dude?!  Ranch.

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Jack has what it takes.
Remember the surgery?
Angel hair pasta.