finally a reason to love mondays

[dianora2]

I don't know what this says, really, but tonight when I went to pick up my laundry, the guy in the laundromat grabbed my laundry bag from behind the counter without even having to look at my ticket. It's just a light blue bag, it's not a distinctive Snoopy print or something. Am I in there THAT often? I am disturbed by this for some reason.

Also, the other day I was offered a religious tract by the woman sitting next to me on the subway, who happened to be wearing a surgical mask. Gotta love this town. Or something.

Anyway, on to the one good thing about Mondays, which is Monday night TV.

This was a good, not great, episode. I confess to enjoying the Haywire stuff entirely too much (even if his taking the painting and not killing the woman was telegraphed into next week), and now have fond visions of his setting off on a quest for the Netherlands. I am thrilled that Tweener has been caught because I find him kind of boring. T-Bag and Diana Scarwid was so skeevy I can't even handle it. Also, Diana Scarwid is looking good -- she looked ten times better than when she was on X-Files almost ten years ago. Loved Michael as the aw-shucks, smooth-talking serviceman, straight out of a porno flick. Very cool twist that Sara's dad believes her now and wants to protect her. I am guessing he will wind up dead soon, ha. Being driven mad by the numbers Michael is sending her, and did I imagine the Braille on the first crane, or what? I was annoyed with Sucre being so cold to Michael. What was up with that? It's not his fault Maricruz dissed you. Whatever. Wentworth's lips were very red in this episode. Mmmm, Wentworth.

Heroes left me underwhelmed, although it began picking up in the second half, and the previews for next week look cool. I don't have much patience for Milo's character, who is basically emo kid. I am not a fan of the emo kid flavor, thanks. I don't quite understand what the cheerleader chick is getting at. Web slut chick is a walking stereotype. Stripper with a heart of gold, raising a brilliant, better-than-her kid with no support from the father because she's making the noble choice? Um, yeah, thanks, I've seen that. A lot. Adrian Pasdar always rocks my socks, and I loved the shoplifting mother. LOVED Japanese dude. croberson, please tell me you were watching, the guy talked about the non-linear nature of time and mentioned Kitty Pryde. It was a conversation just for you. Indian guy is HOT, and that alone might be enough to get me to tune in next week. The hotness is doing battle with the emotions evoked in a New Yorker seeing a painting of Manhattan on fire in a post-9/11 world. Um, eeek. I'll definitely give it at least one more shot, though. We'll see. Damn, where is the instant love, though? *holds out hope for The Nine*



OK, that was MUCH more Sorkinesque, thank you.

I really need to watch it again, but:

Loved Danny announcing his testing positive for cocaine to the press. And when he told Jack that being honest is a good thing for him right now, it was a nice reminder that this is a character who is actually struggling with something, in spite of the take-charge demeanor that he projects.

The arguing over who would take Wes's office. "You need room to pace." They are so very, very gay.

That said, I am totally shipping Matt/Harriet at the moment. "If I slow-danced with Danny your head would explode." Um, why is that like the hottest line ever? Guh. And when Danny asked him if he was still in love with her, and the way he rambled on...adorable. And the bit at the end, when she asked him why she didn't get a laugh at dress...yep, love them. For now. I refuse to get too invested this early on. Refuse, I tell you!

(Meanwhile, totally feeling a Danny/Jordan thing, too, but Amanda Peet needs to continue to improve before I can even entertain that notion.)

The countdown clock was CLASSIC. "So it always knows?" No wonder he went insane, indeed.

I'm meh on Jeannie. From the sides it seemed like she had a lot of potential as a character, but...no. If they had gotten Sabrina Lloyd, perhaps I would feel differently.

Loved Simon and really loved the Simon/Danny stuff. Very intrigued by the resentment felt by those who stayed behind when Matt and Danny left. Suspicion that while they are loyal to the show, Matt and Danny are loyal only to each other. Also, "I will challenge him to a battle of physical supremacy." Also, him coming up with the line about the producer doing blow. Yep, love Simon.

That scene, by the way, when they came up with the opening, was classic Sorkin, where you get a funny little flutter in your chest because you can feel the excitement and wonder that the characters are experiencing. It's like you want to jump into the TV set and help them with whatever they are doing because the enthusiasm is so contagious. THAT is what we need more of, Aaron. That.

Amanda Peet was better, but still not great. And now that it's been pointed out all I can notice is that she never closes her mouth. Aaargh. But I liked when she said that she's the president of NBS and she's not going to let a bunch of nobodies tell her what she can air on her network. I also really liked the scene with her and Jack at the end.

One random bit I loved was when Matt and Danny walked past the control room and Matt slammed the glass as a hey to Cal. It's moments like that that make the characters feel like one big family. You really feel that the set is their home. "We live here now" was not an exaggeration.

Speaking of Cal, the bit with the fire was pretty hilarious.

So not into the prayer circle before the show, but the prayer was funny, so I'll let it go.

And, you know, Bradley spent a lot of time wearing a tight black shirt that showed off his arms and the fact that he's been working out and his hair was all tousled most of the time and when he sticks the glasses on his forehead, and right before the show started when he sat down in front of the monitor and was playing with his lips and then during the show he was smiling and GAH. And Danny giving the writing staff the smackdown and telling the press that they ARE going to do the Crazy Christians sketch and yeah. Love.

(Interesting that we never actually SEE the Crazy Christians sketch. Hmm.)

There are other lines I loved and other things I liked but now I can't remember. Overall, a good second episode, but there is still room for improvement. Keep it up, Aaron! I'll still be watching.

And please dear god let the ratings be okay. The pilot had an 18% dropoff after the first half hour. Eeeep.

(Note to self: be cautious when reading comments in a friend's LJ which is largely populated by people who do not share your fandom tastes at all. That way lies aggravation and madness.)

Haven't watched Sunday's Flavor of Love yet because I've been too busy. What a tragedy.

Oh, and apparently I missed sternel's birthday, so Happy Birthday! And it's about to be midnight, in which case I say Happy Birthday miggy! Peace out.

Comments

[juliedarling.livejournal.com]

Well, some Republicans loved The West Wing, but I think it's safe to say that the bulk of the audience was moderates-liberals. People are generally more sensitive about religion than they are about politics, and I'm sure that a lot of Christians don't mind a jab here or there, but the Christian stuff has been such a heavy focus in the last two episodes that I wonder if people will be turned off by it. I know that no one in my family except me and my very liberal and non-religious cousin will watch S60, both because they don't like anti-Christian stuff and because they're not fond of the "Hollywood liberal" culture, etc. Hell, even Heather Havrilesky at Salon gave the show a pretty negative review because she finds the writers to be too self-important, so I worry that the show might lose middle America. But of course, I'm really hoping it doesn't because I love the show.

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

But it's not anti-Christian, it's anti-censorship -- it's not "Christians" who are the problem, it's the small but vocal faction of Christians who want to control all aspects of our lives including what we get to watch on television. And that's something that should terrify all of us.

I mean, WE know that Aaron will soon move on to his next thing to mock, but yeah, having the Christian stuff in the first couple of episodes was ballsy. But isn't that the point? The whole point of Wes's rant is to not shy away from things for fear of offending people. If Sorkin consciously de-balled himself that would negate the whole point.

All that said, I worry about the ratings too. *g*

[juliedarling.livejournal.com]

But it's not anti-Christian, it's anti-censorship

Well, I'd argue that we don't have enough information yet to know if it was anti-Christian or anti-censorship. We haven't seen the sketch, and we don't know why the Christians in the sketch are being described as "crazy.". The episode likens people who believe in the rapture to people who believe they will be "taken away in a spaceship," etc., so it's a little more than just anti-censorship, imo. It's painting religious people with a very broad "crazy" stroke. Again, it's fine if Sorkin wants to take on fundamentalists, since they more than deserve it at this point, but I think we need more substance in the discussion. He skirted around the meat of the issue, imo, and instead focused on the snappy one-liners.

The whole point of Wes's rant is to not shy away from things for fear of offending people. If Sorkin consciously de-balled himself that would negate the whole point.

But Wes also ranted against the easy pot shots at Bush in the opening segment, arguing that the discourse had been lowered to a series of easy jokes in lieu of real discussion or actual wit. It seemed to me that in this episode, Sorkin did what Wes accused S60 of doing in the pilot: he took easy jabs at "crazy" Christians, rather than starting a real discussion about the relationship between religious groups and Hollywood. Mocking fundies and lumping Christians under the crazy umbrella is way too easy, and I would have liked to have seen the issues handled with a little more nuance. I'm not saying he's obligated to present both sides; obviously, this is his show, and he has every right to assert his point of view. But I think that one's point of view always comes across better when one makes an attempt to represent the opposition fairly, and I think he'd lose less viewers if he made an attempt to portray Christians as real people and not caricatures.

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

But he's generating discussion, isn't he? *g*

[juliedarling.livejournal.com]

Indeed! :)