TV Town

This week I was back to not watching much TV.  Thank goodness.

Castle.  Fun episode incorporating fashion week into the plot. No big developments.  At least none that I can remember.  But I was watching it with Truman so I was a little distracted.

Glee.   I love this show.  It is my current favorite show; I like it even more than Castle.  The mashup numbers the kids did this week were great. This show gets better and better every week.  I was explaining to a friend that all the adult characters are caricatures.  Which sounds weird and you would think that would be a problem. But not only does it not hinder the show, it helps it.   And I can't quite figure out why except that all the adults are adult versions of a highschool "type" whereas the actual high school kids are intended to have depth or at least be developing depth.  Maybe the adults are a lesson in what could happen to them if they don't branch out?    

Dollhouse. Goodness gracious.  On the whole I liked this episode and thought it was very cleverly written and directed by Tim Minear and David Solomon, respectively.   But Enver Gjokaj should be the star of this show.  I completely believe that he is whatever character he is supposed to be whenever a personality is imprinted on him.   And yet I always remember that he is Victor.  That is quite a feat.   I said when this show started that it was designed as a showcase for Eliza Dushku.  Instead it has turned out to be a showcase for Gjokaj.   I don't think this show is going to last and I hope he gets his own show when it is taken off the air.    Lots of fun things in this episode though.

TGIF

So. I've told you I'm a Cardinals fan? A BIG Cardinals fan? Well, wake me up from the nightmare. The Cardinals have turned into ... the Cubs. Please. Don't ask me to explain. It's too painful. You either understand or you don't.

Amadeus

The Milos Forman film Amadeus has always been one of my favorite films but I had never seen the stage play by Peter Shaffer on which it was based. I remedied that last week when I caught the production at the The St. Louis Repertory Theatre directed by Paul Mason Barnes and starring Andrew Long as Salieri and Jim Poulos as Mozart.

This Week in TV Land.

Here's what I watched:

The National Parks:  America's Best Idea:  Beautifully filmed.   A little more boring than the rest of Burns' documentaries though.  I actually liked the part about the park in Acadia better than the western parts. 

Castle:  With two murders on the same night, Beckett splits the team and Castle instigates a bet with Esposito and Ryan as to which team will solve their murder first.   Shhhh, don't tell Beckett.    This series feels like the cast has been together for years, rather than only one shortened season.  If they keep on the same track it should continue getting better and better. 

Glee: Kristin Chenoweth guest starred and she was great.  I hope they bring her back.  The plot was, as usual, completely unrealistic.  But it was a strong episode for Jayma Mays (counselor Emma Pillsbury).   Best line:  "Hey, there's always Branson."

Bones.   A much better episode in general because Sweets and, especially, Cam had bigger parts.  But the ending was weak.  It's seemed as if they ran out of time and just decided to end it by bringing in an unrelated third person who was the killer.   The music was beautiful, though.

Dollhouse.  I predict that baby actor will be in high demand in Hollywood.  What a smile!   The end of the episode seemed to confirm my belief that Multiple Personality Echo and Ballard came to some kind of agreement "offstage" in the last episode of last season.   I thought the contrast between Echo and the pain she feels from feeling everything she's been programmed to feel and Madeleine's Stepford Wife personality was heavy handed. Or is it just that I hate Miracle Laurie's acting?   Was she supposed to be Stepford Wife-ish?  Or was she supposed to be 'normal' and bad acting made her Stepford Wife-ish?    On the other hand I thought Senator Perrin's wife (I suppose she was his wife) was also somewhat Stepford wife-ish.   

I discovered that Big Bang Theory is not on hulu.  Looks like it will not be part of my regular viewing.  Very short sighted of CBS.

I think I'm still suffering the after effects of my August sickness when I watched a lot of TV.  I haven't watched this much TV in the last 15 years.  Although part of that is due to the Ken Burns special.  On the other hand I've gotten hold of the first season of Dexter so I have something else to watch when I'm bored.

The Best ... so far ...

Following Rohan Maitzen's link at Novel Readings, I found two lists of novels labeled by the Millions as the "Best of the Millenium (so far)". One list was compiled by a panel of writers, editors and critics and the other list was compiled from suggestions of readers who are fans of The Millions' Facebook page.

Literary Potato Pie

One of the few novels I finished when I was on vacation was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I admit it: I resisted this book. Every time I saw it in a bookstore under signs saying that it was perfect (perfect!) for a book discussion group, I resisted it. Sometimes I just don't want to read what everyone else is reading.

What Did You Watch This Week?

Last season I blogged about Dollhouse every week and I don't think I'm going to do that this season. But I will want to talk about it every week.

Last season I hardly watched any TV and what I did see was seldom in real time (I love hulu). That will probably be true this season too. But this week I did manage to catch a bunch of shows and many of them were in real time.