friday night lights - tv review

It's a TV show that's based on a movie that's based on a book that's based on an a real-life Texas high school football team. Don't worry, that's about as complicated as this show gets. The rest of the show is straight-forward and even relatively predictable, but in an endearing way. Friday Night Lights is an entertaining hour of television, with action scenes that deliver enough to please your average football fan, along with enough heart to please your average television drama lover.

Premise:

Friday Night Lights follows the exploits of the fictional Panthers, located in Dillon, Texas (rather than the real-life Permetian Panthers from Odessa, Texas detailed in the movie of the same name). Dillon is a small town who's athletic heart beats around the exploits of their high school football team, so much so, they've built a stadium that seats over 35,000 people -- larger than many college teams can boast.

New head coach, Eric Taylor, is met with exceedingly impossible demands when his star quarterback is paralyzed in the first game of the season, and he must win with a complete novice at QB, Matt Saracen. The struggle to be a good coach, father, and mentor while pleasing an ever vocal and negative town hell-bent on winning every game is the defining theme of the show.

What's Good:

The show does a great job of capturing the passion and obsession of football in a small town. The football action is at times overly melodramatic, but it never fails to suck you in until the final whistle.

What's Bad:

As mentioned, the plotlines on Friday Night Lights are very straightforward and at times predictable. Preachy at times, it is what it is -- a solid, entertaining football show. If you're looking for more than that, you've come to the wrong place.

Breakout Character:

Matt Saracen, former geek now starting at quarterback for the mighty Panthers, learns to balance learning the game of football, building relationships with doubting teammates, a Dairy Queen-type job, an Alzheimer's afflicted grandmother, and a father who's stationed in Iraq -- all in a day's work for your average high schooler.

Newcomer Zach Gilford does a great job of capturing the dueling emotions that Saracen faces as he grows from a quiet teen to a confident starting quarterback.

Overall Recommendation:

I like it. I like it for the same reason I like Snickers bars. They're satisfying when you're in the mood for something sweet and simple. It's a nice change of pace from the Lost's of the world. Watch it. Soon... before it's gone.

On the Salinger scale, where a party of five is the highest rating, I'm saving a seat for Bailey, Charlie, Julia and a half Owen.

3.5 Salingers

Friday Night Lights airs Tuesdays at 8pm on NBC

studio 60 - tv review

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is a behind the scenes look at a Saturday Night Live-esque late night sketch show. Studio 60 is written by Aaron Sorkin, the writer of the television shows The West Wing and Sports Night, as well as the movies A Few Good Men and The American President. With that kind of track record, I was eagerly anticipating this show. Unfortunately, what worked so well for The West Wing -- polically charged, hyper-intellectual conversations delivered rapid-fire while travelling through the halls -- is one of Studio 60's biggest drawbacks. In the Oval Office, these conversations anchor the show. Presidential Cabinet members are supposed to be hip to the musings of the conservative right and radical left. On the set of a sketch comedy show, these same conversations are as out of place as Bobby Brown at a Say No to Drugs rally.

Premise:

Oscar-winning writer, Matt Albie, and his best friend, Director/Producer Danny Tripp are derailed from making more hit Hollywood films due to Danny failing a drug test. After the former executive producer of Studio 60 goes live on TV to blast the network, the state of television in general, and the overall IQ of everyone that allowed television programming to hit rock bottom, Matt and Danny are brought in to right the ship. Matt's biting wit and amazing writing ability catapults Studio 60 back to the ratings elite, as we see how a live comedy sketch show operates behind the scenes.

What's Good:

For anyone who's as into the television world as I am, there are moments where Studio 60 does a great job in showing us what life is like on the other side of the tube.

What's Bad:

For a show that's supposed to be about a comedy classic, everytime they show any sort of comedy sketch, the results are laughably unfunny. Matt Albie is supposed to be some sort of comedic genius, but his sketches are ridiculously out of touch with anything remotely resembling humor. If they just focused the show on the backstage stuff and never showed us the actual sketches, the world would be a much better place.

Even worse, the dialogue is so forced at times that it delivers more laughs than the supposed comedy scenes. We have the lead players discussing religion, politics, policy decisions, and current events like they were on Capitol Hill. I highly doubt that Will Ferrell and the dude who played Mango had unshakable stances on the role of Christian right in television programming. Well, ok, Mango probably did, but definitely not Ferrell.

Breakout Character:

Sarah Paulson's as Matt Albie's ex, Harriet Hayes, does a good job in reflecting her character's struggles in balancing her beliefs with performing some of the controversial sketches on the show.

Overall Recommendation:

I wanted to like this show so badly, believe me I did, but lackluster is probably the best way to describe it. It's neither as smart as it thinks it is, nor as deep. I wish Sorkin would shift the focus on creating new characters and situations, rather than bringing The West Wing to Hollywood. I half expect Martin Sheen to come on board and run the show as the new network president just to make the process complete.

On the Salinger scale, where a party of five is the highest rating, I'm saving a seat for Bailey and Julia. An average rating for an average show.

2 Salingers

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip airs Mondays at 10pm on NBC

heroes - tv review

Since I've been lax in reviewing the new fall television shows, I'll start off with a bang and take you straight to the best of the bunch. The best new show? Well, that's easy. NBC's Heroes. Don't believe me? Here's a quote from my co-worker, Steve:

God, this show is so good. I'm all in.

See, I told you. It's THAT good.

Premise:

Think X-Men, the early years. The story focuses on a very diverse group of folks with super powers who are just discovering their new talents. They come from very different walks of life -- a cheerleader, a single mom, a Japanese office worker, a politician, a nurse, a police officer, a drug-addicted artist -- but are brought together, whether by coincidence or fate, for a larger purpose. How large? How about "saving the world" large. Would that be something that would interest you?

What's Good:

The storyline, which is as intriguing as the first season of Lost. You're left trying to piece together all of the clues as each episode unfolds to try to make sense of this universe of characters. What powers do these people possess? How will they all find each other? Who will use their powers for good? Who will use their powers for evil? How will they save the world? Why does the little blonde girl wear her cheerleading outfit 90% of the time? There is not a single show that I look forward to watching as much as Heroes from week to week. Yes, this includes the aforementioned Lost.

What's Bad:

The fun of Heroes is the mystery behind how these super folks identify and unite against a common evil. The problem is, once they actually do unite and vanquish this evil, will the show become the Justice League of America? Who wants to see a group of superheroes in tights fight evil week after week? Boo for that.

Breakout Character:

Hiro, the Japanese office worker who learns that he has the power to manipulate time and space, is a comic-book junkie. He's hip to the fact he has special gifts and he takes to heart the Peter Parker mantra that with great power comes great responsibility. The tongue in cheek way his character is written, pairing his naivete with his true belief that he was meant for bigger things, is fun to watch. Way more fun than seeing Ali Larter take herself too seriously for the 20,321th time.

Overall Recommendation:

Watch it. Watch it now. Need to catch up? They have recaps on NBC.com, as well as full episodes on iTunes.

UPDATE: There will be a Heroes marathon on NBC this Sunday to watch all the episodes of the season so far. TiVo it or something, won't you?

On the Salinger scale, where a party of five is the highest rating, Bailey, Claudia, Charlie, and Julia get invited to dinner.

4 Salingers

Heroes airs Mondays at 9pm on NBC

tv review: hit me baby one more time

Hit Me Baby One More Time is another summer season show which brings five one-hit wonder bands together for, well... the chance to humiliate themselves one last time in front of a live audience. Just a sampling of amazing talent that has been gathered thus far -- Vanilla Ice, Tiffany, Loverboy, Arrested Development, Flock of Seagulls, and Haddaway. It's like watching an Emmy Awards telecast that for some reason could only celebrate achievements from the television show, Small Wonder (and best actress pretending to be a robot goes to... surprise, surprise, that little girl who plays Vicki the robot!) -- not entirely satisfying, but yet mesmerizing in a weird way.

Each performer gets to hop on stage twice per show -- once to sing the song they were most famous for, the second time to cover a song that's currently tearing up the charts. The first performance is definitely the lesser of the two. It's a bit sad seeing all of the artists strain to try and sing the songs they recorded 15-20 years ago. Many did not fare well, as time has done a Boston Rob from Survivor on their vocal chords, and betrayed them at every turn.

The second song is where it gets interesting. Some, like Haddaway, try to do a faithful rendition of a current song (in this case, Britney's "Toxic") and fail so miserably that it's a distinct pleasure to watch. Others, like Arrested Development, take a song and reinvent it to fit their group's style. AD's version of "Heaven" actually comes out better than the original, which makes you wonder, what the hell happened to our love for them? Did we just decide after "Mr. Wendell" played for the 1,232 time that we'd turn our backs on these folks? Weird.

The one performance that confused me the most was Vanilla Ice covering Destiny's Child's "Survivor." The performance itself was pretty straightforward, but the lax rules around what qualifies as a cover disappointed me. The only word that the two songs had in common was "survivor." That's it. The beat? Totally different. The chorus? Not even close. The verses? Please. Call me old fashioned, but when you cover a song, it's gotta share at least a faint resemblance to the song. I'm not asking for a Mary Kate and Ashley type resemblance, but at least give me Alec and Steven Baldwin. Is that too much to ask?

In any case, Hit Me Baby One More Time is definitely a trip down memory lane. An exciting and amazing trip? Well, no. But there's some solid moments. Enough to allow me to reserve a party of two and a half for HMBOMT. 2.5 Salingers on the Salinger scale, where a Party of Five is the highest rating. There's been two episode aired on NBC so far, and the third one tonight is supposedly the last one of the summer. Don't worry, however, you can still catch reruns of any of these shows on NBC's cable station, Bravo. Word to your mutha (as Vanilla would say).