I stayed home last night and got all caught up on all my shows. L&O: Criminal Intent was OK, but the Mike Logan episodes just aren't as interesting as the Goren ones. 24 is as good as ever, but it's almost laughable how the same plot lines are being recycled from previous seasons. I just don't know how many horrific and complicated terror schemes can be piled up as merely smokescreens for bigger plots. Are we supposed to believe that the chain of events of the first 5 hours was all so that they could get their hands on those canisters?
And everyone seemed to get over real fast the fact that Jack Bauer is alive. I mean, shit, he was confirmed dead 18 months earlier! My grandmother died a couple years ago. If she showed up at Passover dinner next month with a tub of matzoh ball soup like the old days, I'd need more than the 12 seconds Curtis and Audrey took to fully comprehend what was going on. I dunno.
I do like Sean Astin's character, even tho "the guy from division taking over the operation" has now been used every single season without fail almost to a point of parody. I also enjoyed the twist with the CTU mole. So far I guess it's been one of the better "days", but I still remember back to the first season and can't see anything ever topping watching it for the first time.
The true star of last night was, as with most recent Monday nights, How I Met Your Mother. Maybe it wasn't the best episode, but it was the most heartfelt and genuine thing I've seen in an American sitcom maybe ever. And it's not just the acting and the jokes that make it, but the story structure of each episode is so perfectly executed and on point each week. Imagine Arrested Development's style mixed with Friends' personality. This episode kicked it up to a whole nother level. I'm talking 1st season OC good.
Interesting bit of info...and if you started watching the show after the pilot episode, you may not be aware. The Narrator stated in the first episode that Robin is not the mother. He specifically referred to her as Aunt Robin. The show's creators, interestingly, have said they have no intention of going back on this point. In this great article on NJ.com about the show, one of the creators compares the show to the White Stripes:
"Robin's not the mom," says co-creator Craig Thomas. "We're sticking by those guns."
"I feel like with great art, you have to create constraints for yourself," says (co-creator Carter) Bays. "You look at The White Stripes, they only want to have a guitar and drums, so they have to make all their music around guitar and drums. We have to make all our comedy around what the narrator says."
Very interesting. A lot of my favorite shows have shed the constraints that made them originally great...24 hardly keeps to the real-time thing anymore and The OC has had a revolving door of characters that keeps nobody bolted down for too long. Lost has always been completely open ended, but its most frustrating aspect is that nothing ever gets solved. There's no endgame. With HIMYMother, it's all locked in. It has taken the perspective from which the viewer follows the story and completely reinvented it. Best of all, it works perfectly. It's quite remarkable. I really hope they're able to keep it up.
Finally...
Pavement - Spit on a Stranger (MP3)
(Stereogum explains why...)
(pic above via PantryRaider)
Spit On A Stranger was greatness.
Posted by: Chris | January 24, 2006 at 01:01 PM
Wow you watch a lot of tv!
Posted by: steven sven | January 24, 2006 at 02:41 PM
More comments on 24:
1. Why is it that everyone was saying to Audrey that it would be awkward for her to speak with Diane Huxley. I thought that Jack and Audrey's personal relationship was a secret.
2. Why on (middle) earth would Samwise Gamgee want to be head of CTU. Didn't Division tell him that every year some horrible tragedy befalls the head of CTU?
Posted by: Dan | January 24, 2006 at 02:45 PM
I know I've told you this before Jeff but you'd totally gotten me hooked on this show with your obsessive postings. Damn you! I enjoyed last night's ep as well, and completely remembered the whole Robin is not the Mom thing so was surprised they'd seemed to have taken it to that Friends'-ish Will They?/Won't They? point. The thing I think I like most about this show is that it's sort of like Nick Hornby's books: it's romantic comedy as told by boys. And the perfect girl? She can banter, she's cute and she makes great cakes.
Posted by: karen | January 24, 2006 at 03:08 PM
yeah that cake girl was cute last night, but she had some big arms, eh? she sure was sausaged into her dress at the wedding. this show makes up for the fact that the office moved to thursday
Posted by: david | January 25, 2006 at 11:55 AM
jeff, i had no idea you were a tv whore. i love how i met your mother but i have missed the past few episodes...what else do you watch? the only thing i've managed to get julia into is project runway...
Posted by: sam | January 26, 2006 at 02:54 PM
I do think there will be more self-parody. Once a show starts recycling itself, it becomes inevitable.
Aside from people needing only a few seconds to adjust to the fact Bauer is alive, it was funny to see how quickly Buchanan turned from thinking of him as perp into savior.
Also, when jack enters the ventilation shaft in the airport, his bag moves as though out of telekinesis.
Posted by: df | February 01, 2006 at 11:52 PM