Summer TV
Ah Summer! Beaches, swimming, cookouts, shorts and Television. I remember when Summer was the worst possible time for television. Which wasn’t a bad thing, it forced you to do more (or catchup on rentals). But now that networks have caught on to the “Summer Season” I kind of look forward to those shows. At least a few of them. Here’s a list of ones I enjoy. (Spoilers for those who are waiting for DVD on these shows)
The Dead Zone
Stars Anthony Micheal Hall (of The Breakfast Club fame) . He has a fiancée with a baby on the way and on the way home from something he gets hit by a car and ends up in a coma for six years and wakes up psychic but his fiancée has moved on and is married to this other guy now. At first he hates the dude (who wouldn’t really) but turns out he’s not a bad guy at all and after about 3 seasons Johnny moves on. But back to the vision thing… He gets visions off of touching things, be it people who bump into him or some kind of personal item. Being the good doobie that he is he tries to stop the horrible visions from happening (like stopping bombs or saving someone from being killed).
This season (I want to say 5) kind of started out with a bang. Johnny gets a vision that Walt (his ex fiancée’s husband) is going to die. Naturally he tells Walt and sticks to him like glue for the day to see what else he can get about his death and how to prevent it. He finally gets a vision that has Walt living but has someone else dead and he tells Walt. Walt being the sheriff runs into a burning building to save this other guy but dies in the process. Now the widow says to Johnny “You didn’t see this happening?”, Johnny says No. So you know there’ll be a whole episode or season about how Sarah finds out that Johnny did see it and make it look like Johnny just let him die.
It’s a fun little Sci Fi show. Sometimes the acting is WAY over the top. But it’s still on my Tivo.
The 4400
This one will replace your Heroes fix for the summer at least. Here’s the rundown: Over the last 50 years random people have “disappeared” with out a trace. Then one day satellites pick up a giant object headed straight for earth, the Seattle area to be exact. Now for some reason NTAC (some kind of FBI wannabe organization) decides to send people to the site where this thing is going to hit, knowing full well that they will die. Turns out it’s not a meteor but a ball of light. When it hits the light is replaced with 4400 people that have all been “taken” over the last few decades. They have no memory of what happened. They were all quarantined and slowly they found out they all have different abilities. Like the power to heal others, the power to see the future, or move things with their minds. Sounds alot like Rising Stars with a bigger pool of people. But that’s kind of where it ends.
After a few seasons we’ve learned that those 4400 people were sent by people from the future to stop some kind of disaster. We also learned how these people got these abilities. It seems their brain creates this chemical called promisen which gives them this ability. Some doctor has find a way to create a drug that will kick start non 4400s brains to produce the chemical and gain their own ability. But it has a 50% survival rate. The goverment has outlawed the drug and also imprisons anyone who has taken the drug and survives. The original 4400 would not be imprisoned. The 4400 “leader”, Jordan, has been declared an outlaw for hiding those who take the drug and for passing out the drug. Recently he’s also taken over a section of Seattle that has been abandoned for years. So now the 4400 have a base of operations. Not every 4400 agrees with Jordan’s way however.
Sometimes the acting is horrible (mostly from Tom’s partner who I can’t remember her name right now). But for the most part it’s fun. Some of the sub plots are interesting. Like NTAC angent Tom’s son has taken the drug and got an ability and it now leading Jordan as kind of some prophet. So what will Tom do when he finds his son? Arrest him? It’s illegal to take the shot.
Burn Notice
New this season. It’s an action/comedy type show. The main character is a spy for the US government. Almost like a freelancer. Then in the middle of a undercover job he gets a call from his “office” thats says he’s Burned. Basically fired but a million times worse. It seems when your burned you loose everything. They freeze your bank accounts, and any retirement funds. They revolk all forms of identification, passports, visas, drivers license. And your social security number is no longer valid. They basically turn you into a ghost and drop you in some city where your stuck until you can figure things out. Micheal (the main character) gets stuck in Miami. Where a former spy buddy (played by Bruce Campbell) and his trigger happy ex girlfriend happen to be. Oh and also his Mom, who he’s not a fan of. So to get by Micheal picks up odd jobs for people in need. Like clearing a framed man of stealing a priceless painting. Or getting some gun runners to back off and leave the innocent-ish people alone. But while doing this the FBI has their eye on him so he has to sneak around to do these jobs. They also have the character Bruce Campbell plays (Sam) talking to the Feds because they said they’d take away his pension. Sam has told Micheal so they only give them enough to help Micheal and keep them reasonably happy.
It’s a funny show with lots of spy stuff and random explosions. The acting is great. It’s a perfect guy show.
Eureka
This show I got into a bit late so I don’t have all the facts. But basically Jack gets a promotion to be the head sheriff of this small town. He takes it more because he needs a change of scenery. Turns out Eureka is populated by the worlds best scientist and they happen to run experiments that go a little crazy sometimes. Like accidentally creating a force field that never stops growing destroying everything in its path.
Very Sci Fi (might be why it’s on the Sci Fi channel). But it also has loads humor, mostly by Jack not knowing what half the stuff and he’s not afraid of asking for an English translation.
Monk
“The defective detective”. Monk used to be a detective for the San Francisco police department, but his wife Trudy was killed in a car bombing. Since then he’s had all his random little quirks and fears blown WAY out of proportion. Like fear of Milk, or round things, or clouds. He can’t function on a human being, nevermind a police officer. So he becomes more of a freelancer, a PI. Gets called in on tough cases and usually solves them, despite his fear of the week getting in the way. He does have an assistant who really just seems to be a napkin dispenser since he doesn’t want to touch anything. She does tend to calm him down when things get to be too much for him.
It’s kind of a comedy / mystery show. They do seem to win a few Emmy’s now and then too so I’m not the only one who likes it.
Psych
Shawn (or is it Sean?) and Gus grew up togethe, so usually in the beginning of an episode it’s a flash back to the 80s when they were both kids and it usually has Sean’s dad trying to teach him a lesson which never sticks. Basically Sean’s dad drilled this photographic memory into practice into Seans head so he could become this great detective. But instead he’s a bit of a loser with no job just living day to day. Until he gets this idea to solve cases by claiming to be a psychic. Really he’s just an excellent detective but doesn’t want to apply himself.
It’s a very funny show with random 80s jokes. Sometimes hard to believe that the real cops are lame enough to believe he’s a psychic, but it’s entertainment after all.
Hell’s Kitchen
Reality tv! I like this one I think only because of Gordon Ramsay, the “star”. He rounds up chefs and picks one to get their own restaurant for free. All built and ready to go. I think it’s because Gordon becomes a swearing drunken sailor in the kitchen when people mess up the challenges. Which usually involves the new chefs preparing a dinner service for Ramsay’s own restaurant. I wonder if people know that his restaurant is kind of touch and go mostly because they have random chefs cooking. Some of these cooks are really really really horrible and the food reflects that. Why do people keep coming back? Is the food free?
Last Comic Standing
One other reality tv show. It’s stand-up comedy which I love. But this season I’ve seen some of the comics on comedy central with their own specials. I thought this show was for undiscovered talent? One guy is on Best Week Ever on VH1 all the time. It’s still entertaining, I’m just confused on the premise of the show. Can like Eddie Murphy and Jerry Seinfeld go on the show?