Oh boy. Here’s a glimpse of what the world of a prolonged writer’s strike would have looked like. It’s not pretty, folks. The Return of Jezebel James, filling a hole for missing programming, was thankfully canceled after only two weeks. For those who missed this inglorious moment in TV history, and have a strong stomach, check out our review (and your chance to view the full Pilot episode) inside the Full Diagnosis.
The Return of Jezebel James
1 Star
Parker Posey stars as Sarah Tompkins, a Manhattan book editor whose defining characteristics seem to be her annoying nature and a complete inability to shut-up. For no real reason, other than the plot calls for it, she decides to have a baby. A trip to the doctor however reveals her inability to conceive. What is she to do?
Out of the blue she calls up her estranged younger sister Coco (Lauren Ambrose) to offer her the opportunity to carry her baby. The two haven’t spoken in years, don’t get along, and don’t even really know each other. Coco, of course, decides against all logic to agree to the arrangement, because, well, the plot calls for her to. And so a sitcom is born. Thankfully it lived only a short time.
Although I’ve seen worse shows on television, I’m not sure I remember one centered around such an annoying character. The show was created by Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman who forgets the cardinal rule about a sitcom – to make it FUNNY! In two episodes I watched, I laughed only once – at the complete and absolute absurdity at the entire enterprise.
Even with extensive rewrites I doubt this show could be saved. It certainly could be better, but never passable. Posey has her uses in films and television, but this is just a bad fit for her, and since the writers never decide who Coco is supposed to be Ambrose can be given a little slack for never getting a feel for the character. Bad casting choices and bad writing make for bad television. With the writers returning to work we can be thankful, at least, that this one was put down quickly.
The final season of Battlestar Galactica begins this Friday with “He That Believeth in Me” which picks up just moments after the ending of Season Three. The Sci-fi Channel is re-airing previous episodes of the series all this week playing every episode of the series in order to get you set for Season Four. The series has also put out two behind-the-scenes featurettes (which you can check out in the Full Diagnosis) examining the show itself and fan reaction. New episodes air Friday nights on the Sci-fi Channel at 10:00/9:00.
Eli Stone (Jonny Lee Miller) is a rainmaker at one of the largest law firms in San Francisco. He’s a favorite of the senior partner (Victor Garber), he’s got a proven track record, and he’s engaged to the boss’ daughter (Natasha Henstridge). Everything’s perfect, until George Michael shows up in Eli’s apartment.
The “Sarah Connor Chronicles?” Wait, isn’t she, you know, dead? The new FOX series resurrects (a less masculine) Ms. Connor, and puts her and her boy on the run from Terminators and cops on a weekly basis. Continuity problems abound, but the cast seems solid enough. After two episodes I’m not convinced enough to give the series a passing grade, but I will stick around for a few more to see where it’s planning to go. At least it’s better than Flash Gordon (although that’s not exactly a high standard). Check out the full review inside the Full Diagnosis.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Custom Rating
Totally ignoring the events of, the much under-appreciated, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, this new series starts up a few months after the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day with Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) and her son John (Thomas Dekker) once again facing robotic assassins from the future. This time along John’s got a new protector in the form of a young hottie Terminator played by Firefly‘s Summer Glau. Forgetting for a second how this rips the movie continuity to shreds (we’ll get to that in a bit) first let’s examine the show on its own merits.
In terms of look and tone the show comes off a little disappointing compared to the big budget films. Acting wise Headey makes an interesting choice for Sarah, but so far I haven’t seen anything to make me care whether Dekker’s John lives or dies. He’s certainly no Nick Stahl or Edward Furlong. Glau, who seems to have carved out a niche for herself playing odd characters with powers far beyond her nimble frame, seems to fit well into the show and adds some much needed humor to the proceedings. Sadly, the castings of the other Terminators come off more like Arnold parodies (Aaron Cash) than serious threats. The writers also seem to have written themselves into a corner with the Federal Agent (Robert T. Johns) on the fugitives’ trail. If he gets anywhere near the Connors he will realize the truth, and if he stays away he’s not really a player. This severley limits his involvement, at least for the time being.
In terms of continuity this show makes changes similar to the Highlander franchise in keeping pieces the creators want and ignoring the rest. The difference here is the Highlander films are mostly forgettable and the television show was, for the most part, certainly of a higher quality. Here the stakes start off much higher, with all three films being good, each in their own way, and the show having a much larger standard to live up to right out of the gate.
And the continuity is a problem. The new show disregards the events of the third film and instead of making a series based on the resistance after Judgment Day in a future ruled by robots, it instead gives us Ma, son, and robot girl on the run. It’s like The Fugitive mixed with Small Wonder mixed in with what was kept from the movie franchise. The new storyline ignores the bleak and melancholy, but terrific, ending of the third film (which is the only one which really deals with the time paradox of the series) in favor of offering more hope to save the future by once again going after SkyNet.
Ben Franklin once stated that the definition of insanity is doing the same action over and over and expecting different results. Sarah and John know, even if they won’t admit it to themselves, that any action taken against the creators of SkyNet will not stop it from coming into being. The audience learned this lesson in T3 and I’m not sure we need 6, 12, or more, weeks for the show to come to the same conclusion. In fact there’s a scene in the pilot where this is brought up and then quickly dismissed, because any serious discussion of SkyNet’s creation and the inability to stop it would seem to end this series before it ever starts. If SkyNet is never formed there is no war and John Connor never becomes a leader. If John Connor never becomes a leader then no Terminators are sent back in time to kill him, or his mother. If no Terminators of sent back to kill Sarah Connor then Kyle Reese is never sent back to protect her. If Kyle Reese is never sent back in time, John Connor is never born. If John Connor is never born Sarah Connor has no reason to destroy SkyNet. (Follow that?) The complex issue of time travel and consequences can’t simply be ignored just because of a writer’s strike, an abundance of Terminator fans, and an hour of television needing to be filled every week. Whether you liked or disliked T3 the film did deal with these issues and raised the entire franchise from a simple monster/action adventure to a true sci-fi franchise with rules and consequences. I’m pretty sure devolving it back into a simple action/adventure story isn’t the best way to go.
The other issue with making the series based in this particular time period before anyone knows about SkyNet is how impossible it is to keep it secret. In only two episodes the show has created elaborate stunt sequences involving multiple homicides and explosions and left evidence (including the remains of a Terminator and countless witnesses, many of them police officers) which simply can’t be ignored, especially if the trend is going to continue with trying to maximize these events weekly. If authorities see physical evidence that Sarah isn’t crazy there’s no reason for her to stay on the run and the series would seem to go nowhere, unless there’s some great twist coming. And what’s up with all the Terminators being old school versions based of the T-100 from the first film? Are they saving the cooler new versions for sweeps week? Or is it simply not in the budget?
The show isn’t a total loss, and despite it’s many story issues I think it has the possibility of being an okay action/adventure show. Time will tell; right now it seems still a bit incomplete and not entirely thought out. Don’t expect much from it and you’ll probably be okay, but I think those looking for good sci-fi are going to be disappointed. Still, there’s not much sci-fi that’s even watchable on television right now, so this B-action show might be enough, at least until something better comes along, or we finally get more new episodes of Doctor Who and Torchwood on this side of the Atlantic.
A retail store employee whose brain is filled with government secrets after receiving an e-mail? Okay, once you get through the entirely ridiculous and idiotic premise, Chuck is a pretty good show.
