I got my hair cut this week and my hairdresser, Grant, and I dissected the new TV season. He’s a big Glee fan too. Here’s my take on the new TV season and what I’m watching. Keep in mind that, except for Castle, I don’t watch almost anything in real time.
Castle (ABC on Mondays at 9:00 central) – Luv it. I wondered if this third season would see the writers run out of ideas, but I think this may be the best season as far as plot-of-the-week goes. They’ve kept me guessing. And there seems to be a lot more humor this year. Not that there wasn’t humor in other years but it seems as if the writers and actors aren’t holding back this year. There are some plot holes in the ongoing stories. What happened to the boyfriend Alexis had over the summer, for instance? But so far a great season. A-
Glee (Fox on Tuesdays at 7:00 central) – Uneven. The writers are giving Brittany more air time this year. There seems to be a cult-like following for Brittany and I just don’t understand it. I don’t think her lines are that funny. But she’s a fabulous dancer and that made the Britny Spears episode tolerable. They still have at least one too many musical numbers per episode and the lip-synching isn’t always accurate and that bothers me. I’d prefer fewer numbers, better performed. But I like the ongoing storyline about Kurt this year. And I like the new football coach. And next episode they are doing Rocky Horror . Oh yeah. Let’s do the time warp again … ahem. Anyway. B
Bones (Fox on Thursdays at 7:00 central) – Better than I expected. They built a weird “almost a year has gone by” into the break between last year and this year which I thought wouldn’t work. They introduced a new love interest for Booth which I thought wouldn’t work. They made Angela and Hodgins a formal couple with a baby on the way and I thought that wouldn’t work. But so far it is all working well. It might be my imagination but the dead bodies this season are even more disgusting than in other seasons. And I’m not sure how they are managing to get all the squinterns back after a year, but that’s a minor point. On the whole I’m enjoying it. B+
Fringe (Fox on Thursdays at 8:00 central) – Surprise of the Season so far. I was not a big Fringe fan before. I generally only watched it if I had nothing better to do. I always thought Anna Torv was miscast as the lead. But this year? I’m totally hooked. Torv is showing dimensions I didn’t suspect playing both Olivia and Fauxlivia – and it’s even more complicated because Fauxlivia is pretending to be Olivia and Olivia is brainwashed to think she is Fauxlivia. Got that? Having the episodes jump back and forth between the alternate universes, a different world each week, is working for me. I find myself invested in the characters. A
I’ve only watched one episode, each, of SGU and Caprica so I’m reserving judgment. I’ve found myself liking 30 Rock again this year. Last year I found myself deleting it from my Hulu queue without watching it. I might not have even watched it this year except for Matt Damon being a guest star. But I’m enjoying it.
The one show I have not seen this year that I miss is Big Bang Theory. I’m seldom home at the time it is on and when I am it is up against Bones. CBS doesn’t participate in Hulu and I find the CBS site difficult to navigate. So I have not seen a single episode this season. I guess it will give me something to watch during “repeats”.
