Mid Fall 2008 Season – Commentary

Right so it isn’t exactly midway through most of the fall season’s shows yet, but we’ve seen enough episodes to get a feel of how and where this new season is headed. Here’s my take on what we’ve seen so far. In order of which show I’m most likely to watch first if given a choice. Spoilers abound so proceed if you don’t care!

1. Gossip Girl Season 2 (201-210)

Still as juicy as last season, so far the Upper East Side is still the place to see and be seen. Serena and Blair continue their dynamic friendship and this season Chuck and Blair brought much squealing to Chair/Bluck fans all over. Also, Nate is still hot as ever, and possibly getting hotter still. This is my top pick to watch every week as it’s so darn entertaining – fantastic and interestingly flawed characters, slightly OTT plots and lots of glitz and glamour while still boiling down to issues we all deal with like family and friendship.

XOXO! So far this sophomore season has lived up to its season 1 name – expect more drama coming up with Little J trying to make it big and the usual gang up to their hijinks as well as the much vaunted upcoming death that’s bound to shake things up. The series has been picked up for extra episodes - a 25 episode run… woot!

 

2. Friday Night Lights (301-307)

Resurrected from an undulating Season 2, Season 3 got rid of the murdering and brings the focus back to football – suddenly this show is as fantastic as Season 1 again. S2 was bad to the extent that I would have the episodes in front of me and just… not bring myself to watch it. Not until I totally ran out of TV fodder did I watch the episodes after the writer’s strike. Sorry but all those weird relationships and the twisty murder plot were not doing anything for me.

But this season, more football! Matt-Julie reunite (yay!)! Lyla picks yummy Tim over religion! No more Tyra-Landry romance! Coach-Tami still awesome as ever! Sadly, it also meant the tearjerking wrap up of Smash’s storyline as he heads to college and impending endings for many of the main cast as well, as the bulk of them are seniors this year. Will FNL continue into S4? I would love for it to, but I’m not sure whether I’ll love the show as much without the current main cast signed on.

So far, lots of emo tear-jerking scenes with interesting additions like the appearance of Matt’s Mum and freshman JD usurping Matt’s QB1 position. Jason Street is set to wrap up his last scenes shortly. We’re about halfway through this 13 episoder on directv, and so far it’s been looking good. Will the Panthers win it again this season though? They’ve won me over so far at least!

 

3. Dirty Sexy Money (201 – 205)

The Darlings still keep me inclined to tune in, even if the plots seem a little more OTT and main protagonist Nick George is becoming more of a Darling than ever – I liked him treading that fine line last season, but still being someone you can trust to pick his family over Darlings. This season… he’s Nick Darling.

Still, lots of undercurrents and scheming keep this series unpredictable and interesting, along with the addition of the lovely Lucy Liu as Nola Lyons to the cast. Pity Samaire Armstrong’s not around anymore, I kinda miss Juliet the Free Radical. Still my favourite character this season would have to be Brian, who’s been upapologetically and hilariously Brianesque in everything he says and does.

According to Peter Krause on a twop interview, this season is set to get soapier, so expect more twisty plots and backstabbing in the works. While last season’s 10 episoder was focused around Nick solving the murder of Dutch and getting to know the Darlings, this one so far seems to be headed in the direction of Simon trying to usurp the company?

 

4. Heroes (301-308)

Well so far it seems better than Season 2, but nothing beat the freshness of Season 1. Season 2 suffered from too many and too boring characters and overly lengthy plots. Season 3 is a little better paced and has introduced even more characters, so while it’s definitely not boring, it might be mindboggling for those who’re not used to keeping track of a million characters and subplots, along with various time travelling and subsequent plotholes (ala X-men comics).

I’m not a big fan of time travelling plots even though it can be fun to see who ends up with who and how, but while Hiro was endearing in S1, he’s starting to annoy me now, as with Claire and her 3 seasons of teenage angst. I like the general idea of creating synthetic powers and the introduction of Arthur Petrelli and his powers really shakes things up.

So far, still fairly entertaining – way too much to talk about but I’d still tune in, even if there’ve been reports of dropping ratings in the US.

 

5. CSI NY (501-507)

Besides the usual reasons that I like CSI (detective work, behind the scenes, weird ass crimes), I like CSI NY for the action and also because I love Danny-Lindsay, which so far there has been ZERO evidence of this season! Season 3 was spicy because they were totally flirting, Season 4 was when they were comfortable with each other but hit that roadbump when Danny had a weird rebound relationship with his neighbour over his guilt about the son’s death, but S5… NADA.

But according to news, it’s epi 101 that Dantana comes to life again, and it’s really spicy news that Lindsay gives to Danny about their relationship! Can’t wait.

 

6. CSI (901-904)

CSI and CSI NY are comfortable staple shows I turn to when I’m looking for a relaxing show or something to entertain me through lunch (gore doesn’t bother my appetite much now). I haven’t blogged about it much other than that first episode where they dealt with Warrick’s death because it seems kinda weird to talk about reaction to the death/s of the week after I’ve watched the entire 8 seasons before this – nothing particularly groundbreaking in terms of reaction if you get what I mean.

But other than Warrick leaving, Grissom is also set to leave sometime, and with Sara gone as well, I’m not sure whether I’ll return to my staple show with Grissom out of the picture. Sure I love Nick, and Greg and Catherine, and even Archie and Hodges and gang, but it’ll… just be different.

 

7. Dexter (301)

It’s not that I don’t love Dexter, but I watched S1 and S2 all at a go! Dexter is particularly addictive in a way that you just can’t stop watching once you start. Also, I am watching 6 series concurrently, so I’m saving Dexter for that lull after the Fall season shows end or when some of the current series wrap up. Dexter happily settled but still killing, and a possible baby Dex on the way? Interesting…

 

Stuff that I’ve fallen off the bandwagon for (i.e. used to follow religiously but not anymore): House S5, Grey’s Anatomy S5, Ugly Betty S2

On the backlist to watch: Mad Men S1, Torchwood S1 and maybe Chuck S1 which I’ve had for a long time but just never got around to watching.

Would consider watching if given the chance or DVDs: Pushing Daisies, How I Met Your Mother, Veronica Mars