Well, I was counting the full 60 minutes. And yes, she is. In every single episode, it's gotten to the point where she's either really stupid, or her visions seem to give her 20% more information each time she has them throughout the show, and she acts impulsively on early/incomplete info, which is still stupid of her. That show is frustrating.

It's not being episodic per se that annoyed me about that episode, it's being episodic badly. Episodic programmes have their own discipline; if Sulu and Chekhov hate each other one week, and are best friends the next, and there's no in-world explanation or even mention of that character lurch, then that's undisciplined writing.

Peter

Sure, I get that. Sorry, I wasn't really addressing that complaint when I wrote that post, just the complaints about doing a different kind of episode. I definitely agree that there should be consistency and continuity. I didn't see it as being as egregious as you did, but I can see what you meant.

High marks, IMO, for Spartacus: Blood and Sand - And it's not its duality of gore-fest action movie and soft-core porn that makes it good either. The actors are terrific, and very well cast.

Oh, and no one's mentioned it yet, but Breaking Bad remains the best drama on TV.

Breaking Bad is working very well. Very creepy. On a lighter note, I seem to have gotten sucked into Modern Family. All the characters are dorky stereotypes of one sort or another, but they're remarkably funny.

I noticed Sons of Tucson wasn't on this Sunday.... And it's because Fox has cancelled it after airing only 4 episodes. I think the cancellation may have been ordered after only 3 however. I guess the FOx executives couldn't imagine that a live action show sandwiched between Sunday night cartoons might not do so hot in the ratings. Idiots.

On a brighter note, it looks like my favorite 30-minute spy program will be back for a second season. Archer is excellent.

More cancellation news. From the Axe network itself, ABC. They consistently have a greater number of decent shows than any other network, only to cut most of them short.

Flashforward which, IMO has gotten better in the past 6 episodes, has been canned. Happy Town, which has only aired 3 episodes has also been pulled - the remaining 4 episodes to be shown next month. I was rather enjoying both of them, but I did expect that Happy Town would eventually get canned. Apart from Lost, I don't think ABC can handle a serialized mystery, especially one that may deal with the occult and death. It was ABC that also canned Twin Peaks.

V seems to have been picked up, but I'm sure it will be cancelled next season.

What amazes me the most about TV this season however is that people actually watch Glee. Which they must, since Fox renewed it. Wow, what a total POS.

Happy Town was a critical failure, and sounded like a Twin Peaks rip-off. To be honest, I didn't watch it (I had no interest), but it certainly didn't win many people over other than you.

Flashforward, I'm sorry to say, was just boring to me. My wife and I simply gave up on it, and I simply don't give up on shows after 6 or 8 episodes (after all, I'm still watching the awful Smallville). I think we got a week behind, and the idea of watching two episodes of that show in a row basically turned us off the show entirely. It might have gotten better but we put a lot of time into it and it not only bored us but we were actively pissed off at some of the people on it. Like the main couple who was supposed to split up? They knew they were supposed to split up in the future, knew they could prevent it, and then proceeded to still go down that path. So why would I root for them? Ugh, whatever, I just don't care about that show.

There's two other cancellations you didn't mention:

Scrubs - this was mercy. My wife and I watched the first episode of the "new" show, and it was just awful and forced. The showrunner had moved on to another show, and even when the old cast showed up the jokes were recycled, the call-backs were forced, and the new cast was annoying.

Better Off Ted - THIS one I'm sad about. I hadn't tried it out until Bitt mentioned it to me. The first season of this show is fantastic. I felt the second season was trying a little too hard, but it was still funnier than any of those boring sitcoms they keep trotting out, and far more original.


My favorite show, Supernatural, had its season finale. As much as it pains me to say this, I kind of wish they'd wrapped up the story this season. They could have done it easily, and it would have made for a great close to the story. Perhaps I can't see where they're headed next season, but I'd be surprised if it didn't feel like they were stretching it out. Of course, I can't be upset about getting more of my current favorite show. But frankly, I could even see the show ending right where it did, and it would be one of the saddest endings to a show I've ever seen.

I've never seen it, but I have a lot of friends that love Glee. They said the humor in it is awesome. I can't bring myself to even try to watch it to see if they are correct though.

My wife has watched a few episodes, so I've sat through about 2.5 episodes worth of content. There are some good diatribes, but there are too many aspects that make me want to pull my hair out. The cheerleading coach character is well done and the actress pulls it off with her gruff and callous attitude.

The whole musical genre thing is the initial big turn off. But there are also a lot of cliche juvenile plot lines. Sure, some of the stuff is supposed to be tongue in cheek, but I just find it annoying.

For Matt. I was starting to find Flashforward boring, but as I said, it picked up in the second half of the season in a big way. Things fit better together where previously I thought they were about to pull a Heroes on us and just spread the story everywhere.

Scrubs sucked in the first couple of episodes. But it too hit a stride. The original showrunner (and creator) Bill Lawrence, also had his hands in this new season (which is essentially a spin-off) as far as I know. That's what I gathered from an interview he gave. I have no idea to what level he was involved compared to past seasons, since he's also involved with his other show, Cougar Town.

I did get a couple of Twin Peaks vibes from Happy Town, but there's really not much in common with the two to call it a rip-off. But this type of show just has very little chance of going forward on Network TV and it certainly won't capture the minds of the CSI audience who want to watch essentially the same episode week after week. With only three episodes in, I thought this one was unfolding pretty well and was looking forward to see where they'd take it in another 5 episodes.

There's a ton I didn't mention, such as the long overdue cancellation of 24 and Heroes. TV.com has a good list of cancellations and renewals up at the moment. They've also got a fall TV preview that I haven't looked at.

I believe ABC has also cancelled The Deep End, though no official word had come out as of yesterday on it.

Parenthood, a show I've been recording since the pilot, also got picked up for a second season. I thought I'd pull an experiment with this one and record but not watch any of it. Now I can watch the first season knowing ahead of time there will be more episodes in the second. Of course if it turns out I don't like it, it's all just been a temporary waste of hard drive space over the past few months.

The one show I watch that was canceled was Legend of the Seeker. It really isn't that great of a show, but I watched it to see just how off from the books it really was. There were some interesting things going on, but I'm not surprised that it was canceled. Perhaps the best people involved in that show were the casting director and the costume designer. Yowzah.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Heroes. I'm a tiny bit surprised that got cancelled, but to be honest I'm happy about it. It forces me to stop watching a show I only partially enjoy. Now they just need to cancel Smallville and I'll be saved from watching shows I dislike

The season (series) finale of Flashforward was quite good. It's real shame they decided to cancel this and keep V. Apparently, the word I've heard is that when they premiered both shows they knew/thought they would only be renewing one of them. ABC definitely has the lion's share of good network TV, but they're complete ass-clowns with their show-pulling shenanigans.

They're premiering 3 new shows next month and I suspect that all three will be cancelled before they finish a proper complete first season. Or at the very least will not be renewed. All of them look interesting enough to watch at least the first episode based on commercials.

I think V is pretty good. That and Justified are the two main shows that I'm watching right now.

I like and watch V as well, and I would have liked ABC to have kept both shows. I'm just saying that if they absolutely had to have only one, it should have been Flashforward. A much better replacement for Lost if nothing else.

I've read that some people thought Flashforward was too slow and lost interest. It picked up in the second half however, where I don't think V has picked up much steam at all. It's moving along at a much slower pace than I had thought and with no sign that the main characters are actually going to be able to do anything significant. I hope the beef up the second season a bit. And also improve some of their compositing and keying.

I haven't seen Justified yet, but I'd like to. It airs originally on FX and I'm not sure who, if anyone broadcasts it in Canada at this point. It will likely have to come off the net like a number of other no-shows here.

EDIT: Typo. I accidentally wrote "NBC" when I have meant to write "ABC" - fin thing is I had done this during the day and now I'm correcting it after about a full bottle of wine.

Some shows seem to hold back, pacing the story, keeping something back for later. Except they forget, there may be no later. The writers/producers of action shows ought to go at it like their hair is on fire. This was something the producers of 24 had figured out.
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I saw V the first time around, this one lost me after only a couple of episodes.
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The finale of Flashforward was pretty good. To bad we will never discover the fate of Benford.

Exactly. The people working on Flashforward probably figured that if Lost got to keep going, they would too. But they seem to have missed the part where Lost was a hell of a lot more compelling, and the first season was, IMO, perfect.

I found Flashforward to be pretty boring. I was in it, but then the characters were infuriating and never reacted to anything naturally. It was like Heroes that way, and we see how that turned out.

I have yet to watch the finale of FlashForward due to TiVo equipment failure. (New one on its way... grr...), but I was wondering how they could possibly manage a second season of FlashForward, but I guess the answer is that they left a bunch of stuff unresolved.

I gave up on V after the break. Just completely couldn't buy it.

They revealed a ton, but there's a lot more left to reveal. And nothing was really resolved, since they're still after the same people they have been since the start of the show. That is to say, the people actually pulling the strings - other people of interest have already been accounted for.

A number of times I could see the story line going off the rails and what I thought were absurd moves by characters they expected us to buy so deep into the series. But they've managed to pull everything together and everything that happened and every action every character has taken was explained or put into context in future episodes. IMO, it's been quite well done.

Apparently that's what the critics are throwing at The Last Airbender.

You have no idea how disheartened I am by this review. Massawyrm is usually a reviewer I trust, and he clearly gets the show and loves it. What he's said M Night has done to the lead character is unforgivable, and I suspect I'll never see another M Night movie again after this one, if it truly is as bad as everyone is saying.

I knew from the first things that MNS was saying about the show that he clearly did not get what it was about. He was far more concerned with these spiritual and Buddhist aspects that he saw in the show than the actual elements that made the show great. And I'm not talking water and fire, here. I'm talking about mythology and epic storytelling, character development, and genuine heart that I've never seen in any other show before. We're talking about a show that won an award for "Unusually complex characters and healthy respect for the consequences of warfare."

It sounds like MNS has created a real turd, where he kills the personality of each and every character and doesn't get the point of the show at all.

I'm going to be really pissed if this sucks as bad as it's said to.

MNS was the wrong director for this movie. I'm not sure who the right one would have been, but I think MNS is better suited to his own creations.

I've liked the sequences in the previews I've seen, but it seems the casting is poor. I'll probably see this once it's released to video. It really takes something else for me to go to the theater, especially now with a baby in the house. I'll probably see the next Harry Potter in the theater though.

I never let reviews inform what movies I see.

I never let general public opinion inform what movies I see.

Avatar is my favorite show of all time.

I'm skipping this movie.

I am so bummed by the response to this movie, as I have heard nothing positive about it. I waited to develop my second-hand opinion until I heard the thoughts of the fans of the series. Apparently those people hate the movie even more than the neophytes because they know the glories of the show and how good it COULD have been.

I really hate that MNS did this. I still LOVE Unbreakable, but my opinion of him as a filmmaker is as low as it can get. I despised The Happening.

I wonder how it would have turned out it they'd gotten someone like Chris Columbus (speaking of Harry Potter). There are certainly people who could have done this story justice.

I'm not sure it's fair to put the blame for this squarely on MNS. I suppose it depends on how much control he had over the whole production.

Has anyone watched Justified yet? I'd like to check out the pilot, but it'll probably have to wait until I clear a few things off the TV schedule first.

Also, anyone know if the IT Crowd airs in HD in the UK at all?

I do think it's fair. When all of his movies have the same problems, he can't blame anyone but himself, particularly when he's the writer AND the director. Apparently people who are new to the story didn't have a clear idea what was going on. I find this laughably hilarious, as anyone who watches the show knows that they clearly and succinctly wrap up the entire back story before every single episode. But apparently this was just a muddled mess, hated by fans and critics, now sitting with an 8% on Rottentomatoes and a 20 at Metacritic, which similar feedback from viewers.

Furthermore, while the effects in the trailers looked amazing, I've seen more clips on review shows (like At the Movies), and I have to say that the more I see the less good it looks. It really looks super cheesy at times.

Oh, and I forgot the biggest offense of the film: apparently the name "Momo" isn't uttered once in the whole thing.

*edit*
I'll talk about Justified in the other TV thread, since it has more current TV stuff in it This thread has devolved into a two-way conversation about a movie it looks like nobody else cares about, and even the title of the thread has changed

Hahaha, good one

Ebert review of The Last Airbender. Naturally, he hated it as much as everyone else.

He mentions something in his review that has added to my fury over what MNS has done to my beloved Avatar. Apparently, MNS has set the world of Avatar as being in the far distant future. The show never made any such assertion, as it is irrelevant to the story. Why did he feel the need to do that?

Yes, but did he like the movie?

tanstaafl.

Just finished watching episodes 7 and 8 of Happy Town, which ABC was supposed to air but pulled at the last minute - they had even advertised for one of the episodes.

Obviously they didn't get to wrap the series, and what a shame we won't be seeing another 3 or 4 episodes. I think it was probably ABC's best show of the season. Lots of twists and turns, everything bundled together quite well.

With another few episodes they could have probably wrapped up enough to have made it a very worth-while mini series.