June 2007
Last night the lights went out on Studio 60, my most anticipated show of the season (as well as my biggest let-down of the season). Since I've already covered the show's disappointing performance, and don't want to upset Studio 60's diehard fans in their time of mourning, I'll just say that the final episode was very satisfying. Aaron Sorkin tied up all the loose ends, and wrote in plenty of happy endings for the show's characters.
For the second week in a row, I confess that while I'm no expert on the machinations of the So You Think You Can Dance judges, I'm just a bit flummoxed.
True confessions time: Until I heard the opening credits of Hey Paula, Bravo's new reality series starring Paula Abdul, I had no idea what Paula's biggest hit was. I'm pretty sure that back when she was popular I was still listening to my Barbra Streisand and Queen albums, because apparently I was a miniature gay man as a child. Hmm.
Burn Notice, USA's latest summer offering, is a clever, well-acted, generally awesome summer drama. You've got action, you've got comedy, you've got sarcastic narration, and you've got Bruce Freaking Campbell. What's not to love, right?
I know I'm hard on Pirate Master, having seen superior shows from the mind of Mark Burnett, but I have to say the ship looks really cool. During all those segments where we hear the rules three times, or when Jay deludes himself into thinking he's a latter-day Napoleon of Crime, I can at least admire the work of the set designers. Or I can admire Nessa.
More
You may have seen ads for NBC's new series Chuck during the network's summer shows, but have you read them?
The couples were generally strong on this week's So You Think You Can Dance, with a few standouts like Jaimie/Hok's interpretation of Wade Robson's hummingbird/flower dance and Shauna/Cedric's powerful Mia Michaels contemporary number. Even guest judge Debbie Allen was hard-pressed to say anything negative.
... Head to Minneapolis. Or so that appears to be the lesson from Wednesday's Last Comic Standing.
It's taken a surprisingly long time for such a conspiracy-laden show, but Traveler has finally reached the point where its main characters have run out of people to trust.
"Welcome back to American Inventor," intones host Nick Smith. "The judges saw thousands of inventors in Chicago and New York, but chose only the best as finalists." The producers, however, chose to spend the bulk of their time showing us the worst, the most crazed, and the most clearly deluded people in each city. Also, either a lot of people are inventing urination-related devices, or the editing staff figured visuals of toilets equal television gold. Ain't reality TV grand?
