For those who have been e-mailing me looking for the TV thoughts this week, look no further...
- Heroes! As great as the first season was and for as much as I was willing to forgive it this season thanks to the awesome opener, I'm getting on the verge of giving up on it, and that would be a shame because it's always had such potential. But the storylines feel pointless, peoples' motivations shift back and forth from week to week, they introduce interesting characters and then kill them off to focus more on CLAIRE again...it's pretty frustrating, actually. Hopefully Bryan Fuller rejoining can inject some new life into the next story arc because Peter running around Haiti with no powers and Hiro as a 10 year old just aren't going it for me, and this season in general is going nowhere. And for a show that was supposed to eschew the "cape and tights" attitude of comic books, they're sure hung up on who has what powers and why. I'd really rather just have a good story rather than spend weeks on silly pseudo-science explained by a human spider. Pushing Daisies is a show that does (well, did) that really well, as there's never any need for an explanation as to WHY Ned can bring the dead back or how, he just does.
- House! As much as it pains me to say, Thirteen was not horrible in this one. And the ending, with Tank Girl choosing to be skinny and sick rather than fat and happy, was a nice (although quite sad) touch when normally the POTW chooses the easy solution to their problem and leaves cured. Plus Kuttner & Taub & internet scams = COMEDY GOLD. I'll reserve judgment on Cuddy + House until we see where it goes, although really they deserve each other. Nice to see this show getting back on track after the endless angst of Wilson early on. I miss Private (Investigator) Dancer, though! Give the man a spin-off already!
- Haven't watched this week's Pushing Daisies yet, although my will to continue on is being sapped rapidly by the cancellation. I hope they at least get a proper finale. Maybe Ned can join Heroes as Pieman? God knows they bring everyone back from the dead on a weekly basis anyway. At least they'd have an explanation for it.
- I keep waiting for Kath & Kim to get funny or John Michael Higgins to have something funny to do...but it just never happens.
- Very, very close race in the comedy battle between The Office and 30 Rock this week, but I have to give it to Tina Fey's crew for not taking the easy "sitcom wedding" route like the Office did, and instead going for tougher comedy with Liz Lemon discovering that people actually feared and hated her in high school. The layers of her pathetic life just keep getting weirder and funnier as Tina Fey lets it all hang out on national TV ("He was the first gay guy I kissed!") and the B-story with Kenneth v. Tracy was great as well. Extra points to the Office for actually remembering they didn't get new chairs the last time Michael tried to buy them and for Andy stepping in horse manure...in the kitchen. Really it's like choosing between your two favorite children -- a winning proposition either way!