Tonight's TV

[yendi]

So, after taking Elayna to karate and putting her to bed, we had our Buffy Night. Visitors included chelona for the first two shows, mightwombat for the first three, and glenn5 for the final three (plus the very end of Smallville).

Random thoughts on the shows

Spoilers Ho (that means spoilers follow, not that someone sleeps with spoilers):

Buffy:

Wow. It's shows like this that make you want to smack anyone who wonders why Xander's on the show. The episode would have been just average, until the final five minutes. Just a great moment. And let's not forget, the "ordinary guy" saved the world last season.

Otherwise, I hate the new SIT, because she looks like she's been smooshed, and she sounds like Fred. I just can't stand her.

I like the dynamic of the other SITs, though. And the moment when Buffy and Spike walked out of the crypt was priceless.

And Anya, as always, got wonderful lines.

Overall, a fun episode, with a great ending. Makes me want to watch The Zeppo again.

Smallville:

Light on slash, pretty heavy on plot. I can dig it. The guys who film the misleading promos for the WB should be shot, though.

The big surprise is that this was not the episode with the oh-so-obvious "Lionel gained his eyesight back months ago" twist that will eventually hit (his reaction to the mention of the files proved it).

And I so fucking marked out when Maggie appeared (I knew it was her as soon as she appeared, even before they named her)! and the Daily Planet globe!

And the look on Clark's face when he missed the jump was priceless. And it was a perfect moment -- the scene was pure cheese up until then, but having him fail to leap a tall building in a single bound is great.

I love the way Lex is being handled. Yeah, he caused something bad to happen. And he's done lots of lying. But he's still inherently "good." The longer they keep him that way -- good in his ends and intentions, if not his means -- the more interesting the denouement will be.

And I loved Lex's Plattitudes crack. :-)

With an hour to kill before the Left Coast feed, we watched the all-Daredevil Dinner for Five:

Jennifer Garner and Colin Farrell were really out of their league. Frankly, with Favreau, Smith, and Affleck, you need to be loud and forceful to get a word in edgewise. They were pretty much audience members, at best.

But who cares?

Smith and Affleck are always entertaining. And hearing about the Smith/Favreau "war," as well as the Smith/Burton war, was great. Although I was disappointed that they let Colin get away with saying nice things about Joel Shitmaker (I can't imagine Smith didn't have a few words to say).

I do wish we'd had more Daredevil-oriented stuff, though.



Gilmore Girls:

I love Paris. And I love the way she's reacting to all the politics. The last two episodes have been a lot of fun. At first, I thought she was overreacting at the end, but once it became clear what was really bothering her (the betrayal of information she's shared with Rory), it was understandable. I'm looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

And the Sookie B-plot, if filler, was also a blast. It's nice to see the fun supporting characters get the screentime, instead of getting the Jess and Dean Parade of Boring Boyfriends Show.

But aside from the tension with Paris and Rory, nothing about the show seemed like it will have a meaningful impact. The deposition looks like it'll be forgotten in a week. And the new guy looks to be just another setup for some Luke/Lorelai sparks.

And then we watched last week's Scrubs on Tivo.

And it blew the rest of the shows out of the water.

There simply aren't any shows that handle death so sensitively (that piece of shit ER shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence), nor are there many shows that are so funny. A perfect cast, and near-perfect plots every time. And musical numbers! There's nothing more I could want out of a show (other than Sarah Chalke discovering a twin sister, maybe).

As for details, I love any episode that gives Ted something to do. He's a nifty supporting character. Todd, that other nifty supporting character, wasn't used as well, but was funny as always.

The moments with JD and his respective patients were just touching. His heart transplant patient was doomed from the start, but you had to love her attitude. And the pregnant couple (and the comparisons to JD and Dr. Cox) was a nice touch.

And yes, Turk's timing sucked. He didn't have to force the issue with Carla then. But I still wanna know what'll happen. and when he sung at the end, I so wanted a Du Jour reunion! :-)

The one weak bit -- the pen plot. Predictable. Still, the rest of the show was spot-on.