Theories, Theories

So I have some theories about what we saw transpire on this past week's episode of Lost. If you havent' seen it yet, go watch it on abc.com. First off, I thought it was pretty creepy how Patchy knew all about "the list" and also was about to spill the beans in front of everyone about Locke's paralysis before he was interrupted by Rousseau. That being said, I have a feeling Locke has some ulterior motives to finding The Others' base camp. As we saw in the preview for this week, Locke confronts Henry Gale and says, "I'm not looking for Jack..." Interesting enough, but a preview for Canadian television (available here) has him finish that sentence with, "I'm looking for the submarine." Could it be that Locke feels so grateful to the island for changing his life that he will try to destroy any way of returning to the real world? He blew up the transmission station (and lied about knowing it was rigged with C4), he killed Patchy (in my opinion) to keep him from blowing his secret, and now he is probably looking for the sub so he can destroy it-hence the extra chunk of C4 he has stashed in his bag.

As for Jack getting along so well with The Others - and how awesome was that football spike to end the ep? - I think it is part of his master plan to get everyone off the island. I can't believe he would abandon everyone - there is definitely something to his tattoos and the Thai chick's saying he is a leader and the fact that his name is Shephard (even though they don't spell it right). There is also something major at work in the fact that his father shows up in some way in almost everyone elses flashbacks and his name is Christian Shephard. I think Jack is going to make nice with The Others just long enough to gain some advantage that will help him get everyone home. Check out the last thing he whispers to Kate in this clip.

This show is as good as ever.

What is...?

The Washington Post today ran a story lamenting that quiz shows just aren't as smart as they used to be. As you might expect, according to the author viewers are to blame, and while I usually bemoan television's attempts to attract the lowest common denominator, in this case I think there might be more to the current trend in trivia shows than just appealing to the intellectually lazy.

For instance, the author takes Jeopardy! - a weeknight staple in our household - to task for having become lighter fare since it's original run in the 1960s.

Nowadays...the categories are narrower -- fewer foreign phrases, more pop culture
categories -- and the questions are often written to point toward an answer.

I think that's part of the trick of Jeopardy!. It obviously helps if you know the answer outright, but part of what makes it fun to watch/play along with is the fact that you often can use the clue to retrieve some subconscious knowledge you wouldn't necessarily know you knew, but which is brought to the front of your brain simply by some random association.

To a similar extent, the same can be said of 1 vs. 100, a show I find myself enjoying, surprisingly enough. The questions are relatively easy for the most part, but I'm not sure the game is necessarily about being well-read the way Jeopardy! might be. The trick again is in paying attention to the right part of the question.

My feeling isn't so much that quiz shows are being dumbed down, but rather that the format has evolved into something different. What may be happening is a shift from celebrating intelligence to demeaning the lack thereof. The author quotes a broadcast scholar who claims viewers won't watch something that doesn't make them feel good about themselves, and since we live in a world of low expectations...

"We have accepted a degree of mediocrity in education. We don't really want to
work too hard to achieve success."

I don't think we accept mediocrity, i think we demand it, as evidenced by the second part of that quote. Regardless, I'm not sure that has anything to do with game shows being dumbed down. Case in point: the show really at the center of the piece is Fox's new Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? I have to admit that I haven't seen it yet, but my guess is that is probably supposed to be more a form of satire than a typical quiz show. I think people like to see other people humiliated, a far bigger problem in my opinion than the intellectual ennui we've been suffering through for much of this decade.

Return of "The Ricker"

At long last The Ricker has made it to CTU's HQ, replacing the recently departed Curtis as head of field ops. While he didn't reprise the Brooklyn accent he affected on NYPD Blue (which for some reason I expected), The Ricker was all business, barking orders and strangling employees who didn't immediately do as told. It was good to see Jack again, even if it wasn't really him, and I have to wonder, as EW did in it's profile of 24 a few issues ago if we aren't seeing the the beginning of a torch hand-off. Will Bauer bite it before this day ends?

Anyway, back to The Ricker - who I will probably never refer to by his character's actual name. He must be made of Kevlar since he was the only member of the SWAT team not wearing any protective gear. Though I suppose Jack usually does the same thing. Apparently, being leader doesn't include leading by example in the safety department.

Other than the new blood at CTU the most memorable moment of last night's episode was Martha Logan stabbing her husband in the chest, and then later asking why she was in handcuffs. All this however pales in comparison to what I thought, quite frankly, was the best line of the night: Aaron Pierce answering the phone and saying the words, "Martha Logan's Bungalow". Maybe it was because it was so late, or perhaps it was the juxtaposition of such a phrase in the midst of a rather intense episode, but that line was "gold Jerry, gold!"

Revisionist Office History

Not that I need incentive to watch reruns of The Office (I've already watched seasons one and two multiple times on DVD), but NBC will be airing deleted scenes of the show's previously original episodes during their subsequent rerunning in the coming weeks.

The whole story can be found here. Sounds like we might be getting some updates on how Andy's anger management courses are going. Sweet!

Mr. Buchanan, Can I Go Home Early Today?

Check out Ken Tucker's review of this week's ep of 24 and tell me if you don't kind of agree with him that this season is a little spotty. My major gripe this week concerns how we are expected to believe in these characters when they do stupid things. For example, Jack knows that everyone in the consulate is waiting outside the doors, he spoke with them for goodness sake. Regardless, after he gets his info he walks right into their waiting arms, no gun drawn, no thought of maybe going out the back. The good news is he was able to convince one of the Russians to call CTU. Inexplicably however, this guy has to change rooms to make the phone call on his cell phone, thereby leaving himself open to be killed by a co-conspirator of the ambassador. Seriously?! These techniques they are using to stretch out the plot are getting a little thin. Maybe we could make this season a half day.


Other News

Newsweek recently ran an article making the argument that TV is better than the movies. I can't necessarily disagree, though one comment by NBC President Kevin Reilly made me laugh. He made the comment that "desperation breeds inspiration" as if most of what is on TV right now is inspired. While I grant him that there are some really unique shows on now, probably more than in the past, the grim reality is that there are vastly more relying on outdated, tired formulas; and for every unique, creative show that succeeds, there is an exponential amount of copycats. He should have said desperation breeds imitation.

It's probably more coincidence than anything, but I like to think the producers of Smallville read my post that lambasted the creative direction of the show. The last two or three episodes have actually gotten me back into rooting for the series. Lana's realization that Clark has powers was a breath of fresh air, and I can't wait to see what Chloe's meteor freak ability is.