I know that I said there are four shows I feel passionately about, but there is one show I can safely say is my favorite. There may be four shows I watch when they are on, but only one I will never miss, if I can help it. It is a show I both love and hate at the same time. That show is “Lost,” and watching the season five premiere reminded me why I love this show so much.
I wish I could give a coherent plot synopsis, but my head is still reeling from last night’s episode. I can tell you that the Oceanic 6 (those who left the island last year) have to go back to stop the bad things that are happening to those who were left behind.
Those who are still there are experiencing shifts in time. When Ben (Michael Emerson) turned the frozen donkey wheel, it unlocked the island from time. It is jumping years ahead and years back in time. No one knows how to stop it or when the next time jump will happen.
The best thing to happen to “Lost” was that it was given an end date. There is a story they wanted to tell and now they can tell it on their terms. There will be two more seasons, including this one. I think these are going to be for the fans. The story structure has been one character with a flashback or flash-forward. That looks to be completely gone. They jump from the present to the island (WHENEVER that is),and to the events three years earlier when they left.
The creators of this show give their viewers more credit than other shows do. They know that their fans will be able to follow the new story structure. It will not be easy and I am fairly certain my head will explode before the season is over, but I love what they are doing. 
I have a very odd relationship with “Lost.” I want do not want to see it end, but I want to see how it ends. Now that the end is sight, I am more and more excited to see what the end will be. There are questions I want answered and cannot wait to get the answers I seek.
So what makes the show so great?
Glad you asked. The writing, the storytelling, the acting, the music…in short everything. The storytelling is the most unique thing on television, the writing is smart and keeps you engaged, the acting is superb and has gone without any major award wins. There is not one thing I can honestly say I hate.
In closing I just want to say one thing, Watch “Lost!”
“Lost” airs on ABC at 9 p.m. on Wednesday
Let’s be honest, I watch a lot of TV. I am too afraid to count how many shows and how many hours I watch a week. There are only four shows I would not give up. These are “Lost,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Scrubs” and “Friday Night Lights.” What is it about these four shows that earn them this honor? Each has something that makes it stand out above all the other TV I watch. I could go into each of them, and I have in previous reviews, but this is review is for one show: “Friday Night Lights”
Dillon, Texas is Panthers Football. For a more in depth plot summery see my season one or season two reviews.
I have loved this show since episode one. There is so much to love in each and every episode. The writing and the acting are superior to just about everything else on TV. It has been critically acclaimed but has been a ratings bomb. After the first season NBC did the unthinkable, they renewed it for a second season. They show came back and did what they could to reinvent the show in order to hook more viewers. The writer’s strike was a hard time for the show. The ratings still were never good and I was convinced they were doomed for cancellation. NBC was not ready to give up on the show. So for season three they split the cost of the show with Direct TV. “Friday Night Lights” would air on Direct TV in September and on NBC in January.
This was all in hopes of getting the show to a profitable level. 
I did watch the first episode in September, just not as the networks would have liked. I wanted to watch the rest, but I decided that I would wait until NBC started airing the episodes. It was tough, especially when Entertainment Weekly named the episode “Hello Goodbye” the best episode of television of the year. I did it, I waited and now that season three has started on NBC, I can finally see what the hype has been about.
Season two was more about the people in the town and the game was an afterthought. While I enjoyed the season, I was disappointed that they sold out. It threw away what I loved and replaced it with unneeded drama. They show has gotten back to what made season one as special as it was. The focus is back on football and the events surrounding Friday night’s game. 
The dramatic heart of the show is the Taylor family. Coach Taylor (Kyle Chandler) has an entire town he has to please. The town members scrutinize his every move and one misstep ends with the town outraged. Tammy Taylor (Connie Britton) is now the principal of Dillon High and finds herself dealing with budgets, teachers leaving, no air conditioning in the school and keeping the teachers happy. She has less time at home to see her daughters, Julie and her one-year-old, Gracie.
I am very optimistic about this season. I have heard nothing but good things about what is to come. It was hard to not watch the episodes before now, but it seems to be paying off. I will continue to watch this show and support it passionately until the show eventually gets canceled or gains a huge audience and continues for years.
“Friday Night Lights” airs on Friday at 9 p.m. on NBC.
There are many reasons I like a movie. It could the actors, the director, the story, the special effects or even the writing. Combine all of these and I will rave about the movie for days on end. What happens when you are left with just one reason for enjoyment? It all depends on which one it is. More often than not, it is the actors who drive my enjoyment of a movie. Such was the case with “Last Chance Harvey.”
Kate Walker (Emma Thompson) takes surveys for an airline. She is single and has an overbearing mother. Her mother calls her all the time to check what she is doing.
Kate is set-up on a date and is isolated when the date’s friends show up and join them. She spends her lunch hour in the airport bar with a glass of wine and a trashy romance novel.
There was an almost depressing feeling of isolation. I give the filmmakers credit for that. That may be more of a credit to the two actors at the center of the movie than anything else.
Acting can make or break a movie and this is one of those times. Had the acting been anything less than it was, the movie would have been a waste of time. When you have two actors like these, they can save a movie from utter disaster.
6 out of 10
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.
92 min
There once was a show called “Scrubs.” It aired on NBC in 2001 and lasted through 2008. NBC never really got behind the show. It was barely advertised and had many timeslot changes in its seven-year run. Last year NBC said they were not going to renew the show for an eighth season. The show got modest ratings and even beat “30 Rock,” a show NBC does more to promote, in the ratings. Still NBC seemed determined to kill off the show. Creator Bill Lawrence told them that he could wrap up the series in a few episodes if the network would let him. They said no. The show seemed doomed to end on an episode never meant to be the season or series finale. ABC, who owns the studio that produces “Scrubs,” picked it up and gave it new life.
That brings us to today (or the last two Tuesdays).
From the beginning “Scrubs” has been about John “J.D.” Dorian (Zach Braff) and his life at Sacred Heart Hospital. He is joined by his best friend Christopher Turk (Donald Faison), Turk’s girlfriend turned wife Carla (Judy Reyes), on again/off again girlfriend Elliot Reid (Sarah Chalke) and Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley), the doctor J.D. sees as a mentor and does whatever he can to win his affection.
What I love about the show is the amazing ability to be both hilariously funny and intensely dramatic. They can do the most outlandish things, case and point are J.D’s daydreams. One perfect example is floating head doctor, where J.D imagines what he would be able to do if his head and his body were detached. The comedy can be just plain odd, but it is always funny. They even had a brilliant musical episode. (More on that later)
It is in the drama where they stand out. They have dealt with death a lot and some of those episodes are tearjerkers. The episode in season three where a character dies and Dr. Cox has a hard time dealing with it is an amazing thing to watch. Michael J. Fox came in for a few episodes to play Dr. Kevin Casey; a doctor with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. The most amazing part of the show is the ability to shift tone on a dime. It can be incredibly funny and become touching and sad in the same scene.
So many episodes stick out as I sit here and type this. “My Way Home” was modeled after “The Wizard of Oz,” “My Old Lady” looked at occurrences of death in the hospital, “My Life is Four Cameras” was filmed as most sitcoms (four cameras, live studio audience, bright lights) and “My Best Friend’s Baby’s Baby and My Baby’s Baby” which brought Turk and Carla’s daughter to the show. None can compare to “My Musical.”
It was an absolutely brilliant episode. They even kept it medically accurate, to a point. While the condition would not cause the person to hear singing but they could hear music. The staff sings their way through the episode as they figure out what is the matter with the patient. The songs are amazing and are influenced by classic musical numbers. Some of the songs used are tributes or parodies of other musicals. Dr. Cox’s "The Rant Song" resembles "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" from Pirates of Penzance. "When the Truth Comes Out" pays tribute to "One Day More" from Les Misérables. "You're Going to Be Okay" and "Will I" from Rent are very similar both in music and lyrics., "Friends Forever" is a lot like "We Go Together" from Grease.
“Scrubs” is a show you should be watching. There are rumors that this is the final season; some of the cast are leaving and show creator Lawrence will take a smaller role in the show should it continue. There has been talk of a spin-off with the interns introduced this season. Either way I will watch loyally until the bitter end.
Check out “Scrubs” every Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ABC
There are three big periods in any given television season. Fall Sweeps (when most shows begin), winter Sweeps (the start of the new year) and May Sweeps (when shows wrap up their seasons). These usually signal the times when the cream of the crop in terms of episodes and new/returning shows are aired. For the past few years (minus last year) the start of winter sweeps means the beginning of the father of serialized television: “24.”
And it came back with a bang. 
Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) has done all sorts of terrible things over the past six seasons. Now he has to answer for them.
With CTU disbanded, Jack is on trial in front of the Senate. FBI Agent Walker (Annie Wersching) interrupts the hearing to enlist Jack’s help with apprehending a suspect they are looking for. The man they are looking for Jack’s friend, former CTU co-worker, the presumed dead Tony Almeida (Carols Benard).
President Allison Taylor (Cherry Jones) finds herself in the middle of the first big crisis of her term when a device that can crack the government firewall is stolen by Tony and his crew. The device is sold to Debaku (could not find name on IMDb) who is involved in with the genocide in the fictional African county of Sangala. If President Taylor does not withdraw the American troops, he will use the device to attack America.
It is so good to have Jack Bauer back on television. “24” elevated television when it first aired in 2001. It was a new idea and it changed the face of television. I used to be very anti-TV on DVD, but "24" has changed that. I never saw a reason to buy a season of television. That changed when I bought season one of 24 on DVD. It is the perfect DVD show and that is how many of fans have discovered the show.
Two years ago the show lost its way, but this season has gotten it back on track. With the exception of a side plot with the president’s husband, the show is looking strong. Jack is back doing what he does best. Tony is back and is not as bad as we thought. Chloe is as quirky and abrasive as ever. 
I am going to be honest; I do not give a crap about any of the new characters. No president will be as cool or as loved as David Palmer (he was assassinated in season six) and the side stories have always been the weakest point of the show. The majority of the new characters have major parts in these side stories, which makes them easier to ignore, and harder to like.
“24” still kicks ass. It may have been lacking in the past few seasons, but this season is looking like it back with all the drama and action of season one. I was skeptical of this season. I thought that the long time away would have a huge effect on my enjoyment, but it has not. When I hear that ticking clock I cannot help but smile and wait to see what will happen next to Jack Bauer.
Watch "24" every Monday at 9 p.m
I have been sitting here for the last 10-15 minuets trying to work out a good opening for this review. Maybe it is because I just got back from a trip to Ohio, maybe it is because I wish I had slept better or longer last night, maybe it is because I am also watching the Wild Card games today. Whatever the reason is, I cannot write anything good enough to start off this review. Instead you are left with the proceeding rant that has no connection to anything else in the following review of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
Hurricane Katrina is closing in on Louisiana. An old woman lies dying in a hospital bed while her daughter sits by her side. The dying woman tells her daughter to get a notebook out of a box and read it to her. It is the story of a man named Benjamin Button. 
Benjamin (Brad Pitt) was born with an unusual defect: old age. When he was born he had all the afflictions and the looks of someone in his 90s. When his father sees that his son he leaves him on the step of a retirement home. There he is taken in by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) a woman who works there. He meets Daisy (Cate Blanchette) and falls in love. He goes off and works on a tugboat and she pursues her dream of dancing.
That was one of the worst plot summaries I have ever written, and I have written some bad ones. I hate writing them because it is always the hardest part. I never know what to do because some of the information could spoil the movie, some may not be needed. This was especially hard because, as hard as they usually are, it is tougher to boil down a 2 hour and 45 minute movie to a paragraph or two. 
One thing I have to mention is the special effects. Brad Pitt’s face was digitally mapped on to the bodies of the old men who played Button in his early years. It looked amazing. You could tell it was Brad Pitt even with all the age added to his face. The same was done with Blanchette when her character got older. The make-up job made the movie more stunning and more believable. I wanted to see more of what they would do as Button got younger, but that part was essentially skipped.
I liked the performances by both Pitt and Blanchette, but I loved the performance from Henson. She took in Benjamin as a baby when no one else would. She did not think he had long to live and wanted him to be loved while he had the chance. She is unable to have children of her own and loves Benjamin like he was her own. She makes him feel at home no matter what. No matter where he has been, what he has been doing or even how long he is gone, he always receives a warm welcome from his mother.
The effects alone are worth the price of admission. For a movie that is a long character piece, the effects are incredible. The runtime may bother some, but if you are willing to sit through it, you will not be disappointed.
8 out of 10
Rated: PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking
159 min
