carnivale

so this show makes very little sense. but in the good way, like twin peaks.

i really WANT to like this show. i think i do, but honestly i can't quite tell yet. & to be fair, since disc one only had two episodes on it, i hardly think i've gotten enough of a taste of it to really make a judgment either way.

my main problem with this one is casting. i believe almost everything that happens, but two of the girls in particular, clea duvall (as sham puts it, "who authorized her having the same hair for 10 years?") & carla gallo (i'll have more to say about her soon, i'm watching undeclared right now) totally take me out of it.

i mean, check it out.



he totally looks right. she does not.



she looks like she's from 2005 & they stuck an old-timey dress on her. i agree with sham; it's totally the hair.

other than that, i'm pretty ok with this show. i'm interested & curious, which i guess is the point. i'm not supposed to know what's going on, so i'm just taking it all in & enjoying the ride.

supernatural

man, i really did not want to like this show.

so much so, i had convinced myself that it looked really lame & that i would never, in a million years, actually identify with it. i respected people who were into it (i have a few friends who really do like it) but i just always assumed that it wasn't for me.

i was also completely unable to separate supernatural from smallville in my mind. i couldn't remember which was which, & would always use the wrong title when talking about one of the shows. when supernatural disc one began, i even said to myself, "fuck, which one is superman!?"

but boy, was i wrong about this show. i mean, seriously, i couldn't have been any more wrong.

this is exactly my type of show. i don't know if i was completely blind before, or just totally unwilling to give supernatural a chance. but i almost hate myself for not having watched it before this weekend.

in fact, as soon as disc one ended, i turned to sham & began brainstorming how we could get our hands on the rest of the season. i texted friends to see if i could borrow it. i even thought about buying it. i was immediately hooked!

the brothers play off each other so well. their bickering is really enjoyable to watch, & funny. because they can interact in this way, their characters seem pretty solid, even though the audience still does not know much about them. the younger brother is definitely more emotional, & the older brother is a bit of a hothead. they are nearly polar opposites & they don't really get along (unless they are putting their heads together to solve a case). but that's what makes their relationship really entertaining to watch. despite all the supernatural events occurring, the brothers are so real that it's easy to get sucked into the show. even if you don't believe in ghosts & goblins, you care about the brothers.

the effects are also top-notch. the first episode began with a doozy & i was pretty convinced the rest of the episodes would not be able to live up to it. again, i could not have been more wrong.



i'm totally hooked on supernatural.

& luckily for me, my dad is going to let me borrow the rest.

supernatural, i promise to never "accidentally" call you smallville again.

eureka; 2

ok, so this show is pretty formulaic.

something mysterious & sci-fi related happens in the town & the police get called in to solve the problem. just when it seems like they are never going to be able to crack the case, jack carter gets a brilliant idea & figures everything out. yay! end of episode.

but i still have to admit, for a show like this, the formula works pretty well. the characters aren't totally in-depth, & the plot is certainly repetitive. but, like i said in my entry about the dead zone, people like case-based television shows. it's hard to be glued to your television screen every week. it's nice to be able to tune in or out whenever you want.

that being said, i don't know if the characters or plot are strong enough to keep anyone tuning in all the time. but the show is definitely quirky & fun enough for me to want to tune in at least a little more. that is to say, i wouldn't go out of my way to watch more of this one, but if i turned on the television (& magically had the sci-fi channel) & it was on, i would watch it. at least, until i realized i had something better to be doing.

eureka is cute & entertaining enough. i like sci-fi, though. so who knows.

the dead zone

stupid dialogue? oh right, it's steven king.

driving directly into an 18-wheeler? oh right, it's steven king.

in a coma for six years? & a full recovery? really?

oh right, it's steven king.

don't get me wrong, i love steven king.



but his writing can be a little corny. oh, who am i kidding? he's not exactly known for his fantastic dialogue & really in-depth characters.

but he is a pretty damn good storyteller (or, more accurately, can be a really good storyteller). so, in theory, the dead zone is pretty cool. it's about a guy who wakes up from a six-year coma & finds that when he touches people, he can see things about them. yes, i know that's vague. but so is the show. apparently it can be in the past, in the future, in a POSSIBLE future, happening to someone else near them. oh, & it works with objects, too. but only SOME objects.

it's all very sci-fi & very mysterious. which, in my opinion, is cool.

anthony michael hall ("you gave me a birth control pill? do you know what that can do to a guy my age? ") does an alright job with the whole, going into trances thing. i have a feeling his acting improves over time, as he gets more used to the character. i mean, the show apparently ran for six seasons, so he had to be doing something right.

i can't totally speak to how the plot ends up working out. i have a feeling each episode is him trying to solve a crime or some other mystery that he receives from touching objects or people. that's what it seems like, based on the first few episodes. which is a good idea. people like case-based television shows.

this show is pretty cool. i don't know if i could ever get like, REALLY into it. or if i would ever want to buy multiple seasons & have the dead zone marathons. but i would totally watch it again if someone loaned me disc two.

Eureka

titles: "is that fucking papyrus font? it is! fuck this show. fucking over." i swear, some people.



I have a hard time understanding scifi i think. i mean, i have a difficult time suspending my disbelief. all i can think is "this is weird!" and i never really accept it and move on. i don't know. the show seems pretty standard. we're supposed to follow the main character because, like us, he has no idea what's going on. fair enough.
i do like the 15 year old because she's such a mouthy little bitch. she pretty much has the same lines as if she was playing an estranged wife instead of being the frustrated daughter. i'm into verbally violent young women. who knows why?
I also like the juxtaposition of the government as we know it with the strictly intellectual town. throw the military into anything involving free thinking (and science!) and you're bound to get a rise out of me. creationism & evolution! church & state!

the prisoner

i didn't stumble upon this one by myself. i've had two friends recommend this one to me on separate occasions. so today i thought, why not.

i have to admit, i am a little taken aback by the fact that season one, disc one consists of only one episode, the pilot (aka "arrival"). i don't feel that i can sufficiently judge the show based on only one episode, but to be fair to the rules of the game, i've got to.

first off, for anyone who doesn't already know about this one, it's about number 6, who resigns from his government position only to awaken to find out that he's being held captive on an island until an absent number 1, the man in charge, finds out WHY number 6 resigned from his position. the village number 6 now lives in is called simply "your village," & it's self-sustaining. number 2, the second in command, changes mid-episode (& i'm told this is a common occurrence). number 6 spends his days trying to escape from the island, but the ever-changing number 2 thwarts his every move. no one on the island knows why they are there, & they don't seem to care. oh yeah, & there are giant white orbs that suck number 6's face & knock him unconscious every time he strays outside of the village. at least, that's as much as i can piece together so far.

oh, i think i get it. basically, LOST already existed. it premiered in 1967 & it was originally entitled "the prisoner."

i admit, i'm still pretty confused about this one. but, that's probably the point. more questions were raised in the pilot than answers were given. i also don't particularly care much about number 6 yet, but to be fair, we've only spent an hour together so far.

i am pretty intrigued by this show. i want to know why number 2 keeps changing. & who are numbers 3-5? & why did cobb go by "cobb" & not a number? &, more importantly, where did cobb GO at the end of the first episode? & why is number 6 assigned such a low number, when there are clearly at least a hundred other people already on the island? where did all these people come from? what the hell are the white orbs? &, most obviously, who is number 1? at this point, i sort of imagine him like dr. claw from inspector gadget. (i'm sure i'm not very far off).

semi-futuristic & very bizarre, the prisoner proved to be quite interesting. i'm willing to give season one, disc two a chance (& by season one, disc two, i really mean episode two) to see what the show is all about. i have a feeling i really can't judge this one by its cover (& by cover, i really mean pilot episode).

so, the prisoner season one, disc two, i'll "be seeing you" very soon.