Playing Catch-Up

Thank goodness for DVRs. I've been away from the couch for the last couple weeks and upon my return the DVR was 98% full. Never could have recorded that much stuff with a VCR. Needless to say, the last few days have been a haze of office romance, mushroom clouds, grease fires, and singing.

Let me start with the first four hours of 24. Wow! Pretty good stuff. I loved Jack biting a guy to death; I totally think he was paying homage to his Lost Boys role. I was super surprised to see Curtis get killed off, especially by Jack; he'll be missed. And while it was definitely shocking, I wasn't really surprised that the nuke went off. I'm more confused by what Fayed's endgame is, since he literally blew his wad with 20 hours to go. I have a feeling the season will deal with a lot more than just stopping the other suitcases. According to the previews it looks like Rocket Romano's mysterious ringleader character from Season 5 will get his due tomorrow night.

Two great episodes of The Office were waiting for me as well. The sales call episode was right on, with Stanley and Ryan's Excellent Adventure being the high point. Oscar's return was also spot on, and it looks like Jim and Karen are headed to splitsville.

30 Rock continues to get better and better every week. How awesome was it that Liz's new guy was like her third cousin or something? I can't imagine anyone saw that joke coming.

Top Chef continues to be compelling as yet another contestant was sent home for non-cooking related hi-jinks. This season's group of aspiring chefs really seem to be lacking in professionalism, both in and out of the kitchen. I can't stand Marcel either, but it really isn't cool for one adult to hold another adult in a full nelson so yet a third adult can shave his head. Grow up guys.

Smallville continues to slightly disappoint; they need to rely less on the soap opera antics and more on the action. The Justice episode was a step in the right direction. Can't wait for the return of the Martian Manhunter.

The Scrubs musical episode was pretty good. I don't think I liked it nearly as much as a lot of critics seemed to though.

Finally, I caught a rerun of the Golden Globes on Bravo last night. Awards are awards and I'm not going to debate who should have won and who didn't (except to say that five minutes of every other show nominated in it's category is better than an entire season of Grey's Anatomy). My main focus was on the production of the broadcast. To put it bluntly, it felt amateurish. I know it's taking place in a hotel ballroom, but isn't there a way to film it so that it doesn't make the viewer feel claustrophobic? It also was paced horribly. They let all the beginning winners ramble on forever and then when they got to the major categories they started playing everyone off the stage because they were running late. There's no reason Emily Blunt should have more time to speak than Martin Scorsese. Suggestions: junk the ridiculous sideline reporting with inane facts nobody cares about. Also, spend less time introducing the nominees for motion pictures. There's no need for that production to have lasted 3 hours.


Quick Notes

Heroes returns tomorrow night. Sounds like it is going to get even more interesting.

The producers of Lost are reportedly discussing a defined end date for the series. This may just be a ploy to boost ratings (which is an insane statement, since the show still gets like 15 million viewers per episode), but decide for yourself by reading the full story.