Happy Sunday My Friends!

This week was filled with some great television and some not so great stuff.  I did give a few new shows a shot, not all of them are going to make the cut and a couple are still on the fence  One such show is My Generation, it was alright (not great) but has some potential so I’ll DVR for a week or so to see if it”s worthwhile but since it falls on Thursday when I have loads of other shows I love it’s potential is further diminished.

Some shows tied up their seasons, others began and a few continued forward.

Boardwalk Empire

Great show!  By great I mean, totally awesome show you definitely should be watching.  I mean it, if you put nothing else on your DVR this season definitely season pass Boardwalk Empire.  It’s got booze, jazz, mobsters, and Martin Scorsese backing it.  TOTAL WIN!

Steve Bucemi as Nucky was a stellar choice.  He’s no hearthrob but he’s completely convincing as a two-faced politician out to make loads of cash and accrue as much power for himself as possible. What’s so great about Bucemi’s Nucky is that in one breath he’s this sweet law abiding guy who wants to help a woman in distress then in the next he’s having people killed.

So the low down is — Nucky is a politician in prohibition-era Atlantic City. He’s as corrupt a politician as it gets at this time, one who works with mobsters to import liquor.  He’s got a Boy Friday as an enforcer, loads of cops on the payola and a growing obsession with a local abused housewife that reminds him of his dead wife.  Oh and there’s the government investigation.  He’s dirty, they know it and now they want to prove it and will stop at nothing to do so.  They even recruit Boy Friday (or did they?) to be a mole.  That is the most interesting part of the show for sure.  Boy Friday could be playing both sides or remain true to either side, I doubt viewers ever know until the bitter end of the series and even then maybe not.

The scene for the show was set in this episode.  We got loads of character introduction.  We learned about relationships and history and what some of the goals are for each.  Of course this will all progress as the show progresses but as it stands right now it’s already a must see.

The Vampire Diaries

Elena and Damon went with Mr. History Teacher to Duke to learn more about Katherine’s past in the hopes that they can be better prepared for whatever she’s got planned for them.  The most interesting part of the trip (well besides the usual chem oozing off the screen between them) is the continued debate about whether they are friends or not.  Elena’s being a hard ass and manipulated him into helping her and divulging information he wouldn’t normally have shared.  Damon is genuinely hurt by her actions leading up the most fabulous comment of the episode whereby Damon tells Elena that she was more like Katherine than she knows.  AWESOMENESS.

Speaking of chemistry, I have to say that once again Caroline brought out something in Stefan.  He has always struck me as a bit more wallpaperish until now but as this version of the guy, the one who’s helping her adjust to vampirism, he’s got some personality and I’m liking it.  The sad part about this is that I suspect things are gearing up for an interspecies romance between the vamp and the werewolf (Tyler).  Caroline got dumped by Matt and Tyler got shot down by his piece of patoot du jour and there has to be a point to that. More importantly there has to be a point to the whole werewolf thing (outside of their ability to kill vampires) that brought the brother in to show Tyler’s true nature.  Time will tell.  Still not my favorite part of the story but it’s slowly getting better. At least this week we saw the brother change into a wolf and attack people, oh and get admonished and sent away by a mere request so he’s able to be controled.

Can I say that I’m still totally liking Caroline being super bitchy and bordering on evil?  I’m feeling pretty confident that it’s only going to get more so since Katherine showed up to chat with her at the end. me thinks they will be quite the dynamic duo.

Nikita

I’m still really enjoying this show, but I have to admit there isn’t a whole lot of substance to it.  It’s kinda always the same deal — Nikita finds out Division’s mission, she uses Alex the mole to get information and assistance and then foils said plot.  There’s lots of manipulating, and fight sequences and explosions.  Nikita always relates in some way to the person she’s saving and we always get just the tiniest piece of her puzzle to put into the larger whole.

I think that is the thing that has me losing a bit of interest.  We’re not seeing any significant development or progression.  It’s kind of just a showcase for Nikita’s sexiness and shoot ‘em up action scenes.  The tiny pieces of relevant information and plot are secondary and trickling out at such a slow pace it’s barely relevant at this point.  If they don’t start to give more I suspect this show isn’t long for the world.  The sexy ass kicker is only going to go so far for so long.

Tonight Nikita saved a reporter who had information on a plane crash in which Division had a role.  They were smuggling drugs on the plane and dropped in to pick up said drugs instead of helping save crash victims.  Now they want to cover that up by getting back an amateur video shot of their retrieval of the drugs.  So Division goes after said reporter and Nikita saves her (with the help of Alex).  Michael once again got his ass kicked and Nikita once again came out on top.  About the only thing new and relatively interesting was Alex’s increasing connection to another recruit.  They seem to have a bit of an interest in each other but I won’t be surprised to see him be a plant by Division.  So at least there is that, but all in all they need to get moving more on some actual plot.

Supernatural

How I love me some Sam and Dean!

Dean is living the normal family life with Lisa and Ben.  Cooking burgers on the grill, working his construction job, and just being typical in most every way.  Until one night, strange things start happening.  Nope not just the nightmares he’s used to having at this point but creepy otherwoldy things.  But is that the biggest shock for his family life?  Um, nope.  Welcome home Sam!!

But wait, Sam isn’t the only one back.  Dean is the proud new member of the extended Campbell family (three new cousins, etc), lead by the one an only dead grandpa.  There’s a whole lotta resurrection going on here folks! The interesting thing is even though Dean’s being told that they are there to save the world I have a sneaking suspicion that this is not the case.  In fact I’m not even sure that any of these people really are who they say they are.  I got the definite evil vibe from some of the new Campbell “family” particularly grandpa.  It’s too early to tell how much lurks underneath, obviously, but the vibe is definitely there.  The question is who, how and is any of it going to be a double-cross or some such thing.

Gotta say that the Sam/Dean reunion fell short for me.  Dean was a little flat in this episode, his snark was missing and the emotion between he and Sam was just kinda there.  I can’t decide if that was on purpose (ie: that is what the writers/directors wanted) because he’s supposed to be blindsided and stunned or if the boys are just over playing it all and are just going through the motions.  I hope it’s the former not the latter but time will tell on that one.

Blue Bloods

This was one of the shows that I was on the fence about but one of my girl-friends is a HUGE New Kids on the Block fan and basically convinced me to watch it for Donnie Whalberg, haha.  Low and behold, I totally liked it.

New York family of cops and lawyers navigating death, divorce, and the law.  There’s plenty of dysfunction, strong personalities, and an interesting plot.  It’s not the typical procedural drama — we didn’t see how the evidence was collected or really how it was interpreted.  No, this show is more about the Reagan family and how they interact, the police and law stuff is just the catalyst for that.  In this episode we saw the youngest son (a Harvard law grad) graduate from the police academy and start his beat, daughter (in the midst of a divorce) DA navigating work and parenting, daddy police commissioner battling both the press and the mayor, and older cop son beating up a perp to find a stolen girl before she dies.  It moved pretty quickly, had interesting turns and decent characters.

There was a nice twist towards the end of the episode — a covert “blue templar” organization of corrupt cops was revealed to exist.  So dad’s the police commish and has no clue about this investigate, sone number #1 is a member of said group, and son #2 is killed investigating it.   Now beat cop baby brother was asked to participate because his older brother was part of the investigation and was killed when he was found out.  It’s got great promise to see if he betrays the family enough to join in and investigate.

I’m going to stick with this one for the time being.

Survivor

This week found the tribe dynamics becoming increasingly strained.  Both the old timers and the new timers and young ‘uns had their proverbial thorns in sides.  At least for the youngsters Naonka was entertaining about it.  The girl has zero filter and just pretty much abuses everyone.  It’s kind of entertaining.  The old timers were just nattering each other in general, there wasn’t a whole lot of substance to it outside of one guy’s $600 shoes getting filled with sand and dropped into the ocean.  But seriously, who brings $600 dollar shoes into the jungle in the first place?

The immunity challenge was interesting — it was an obstacle course where a person slides through the mud to retrieve a ball that is then tossed from castaway to castaway via a flat board (on which they must balance the ball) and then finally tossed into a bucket.  If the ball falls onto the ground you start over.  In the end the older folks came out on top after a very close race.  The young ‘ums headed to Tribal Council!

But first there was all sorts of positioning back at the young ‘uns camp.  Everyone was trying to work things in their own favor and truly it was anyone’s guess who was going to be the ultimate cast off.  Well that is until one particular person started running their mouth of.  So off they go….tribal council and man, what a great meeting it was, there was just so much animosity.  People were hurling insults left and right.  In the end it was Shannon who found his torch snuffed.

Can I just say that Shannon is just a great big huge helping of dumbass?  Seriously, no SERIOUSLY, first rule of Survivor – keep your stinkin’ mouth shut at tribal council.  You always end up getting the boot because you inevitably say something incredibly stupid.  Boy oh boy did Shannon step in it not once, not twice, but so very many times it was almost impossible NOT to get rid of him.

Hawaii 5-0

This is definitely my new favorite show of the season.  It’s got great eye candy (Alex O’Loughlin – yum yum gimme some), great characters with loads of chemistry together, good plot, and just the right level of action.  It’s put together really well visually and the writing had me laughing one minute and the tiniest bit emotional a few later.  Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t going to be one of those shows that has loads of morals or heart-wrenching drama but it will have enough meaning and depth to keep people interested and not fall into the pitfall of being too action oriented.

The show starts out with Steve  McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) the military man tracking down one of a set of criminal brothers. He’s got him in custody and the other is still out roaming free.  Unfortunately the free one has Steve’s father hostage and wants to trade one for the other.  When a deal can’t be made the bad guy kills the father.  This is what brings McGarrett back to Hawaii.  Once there the governor (also a friend of the father) offers the ability to create a special no holds barred and no limits task force to investigate his father’s death by .  After a series of mis-steps he agrees to head the task force and the team building begins.

I liked how we were introduced to the different team members (Chin, Danny, and Kona) as they were brought in to help work on the case.  I got to see their background, I got to see their strengths, and most of all I got to see some of their personalities.  They really are a great team and enjoyable to watch.  I’m looking forward to seeing their dynamic build up.  They are a lot of fun so far.

I have to say I was surprised that the guy who killed the father was dead by the end of the episode.  I thought for sure that would be a thread that was going to be carried throughout the season.  It wasn’t necessary that it do so but I just thought it was odd that it was finished so quickly. It was a good ending though and we got the “book ‘em Dano” shout out!  Definitely a show to keep on the roster!

Glee

Love this show!  It’s just so much fun!

The first episode pretty much focused on what everyone did over the summer and where they are in regards to glee club now.  I kinda felt a little meh about the episode honestly, it wasn’t fabulous it wasn’t hideous.

The good – Tina and Mike got together at Asian camp over the summer.  They are a fun couple, I’m excited to see more of.  New characters! Sunshine is an exchange student who can seriously belt the songs out.  Sam is a new boy who is on the football team and can sing and play guitar. Coach Biest replaces Ken as the leader of the jocks.  She united Mr. Schu and Sue for a short time as their budgets were cut to give more to the football team but then Mr. Schu switch back into his normal caring self. I’m sure there will be more animosity to come.  Quinn is going back to her bitchy roots and got back on the cheerios.

The bad – Poor Artie got hosed by Tina’s dumping.  We didn’t see Emma at all.  I don’t know why she wasn’t at the very least part of the Coach Biest stuff particularly since she was going to marry Ken and now he’s gone.  Was it necessary to do the whole Santana boob-job thing for conflict between she and Quinn?  Wasn’t there enough already?

A little good a little bad – Rachel is her usual power and control hungry self, this can work for a little while but it does get old. They need to move her a little further on in the character development department. The new guy — he’s Finn, we already have Finn.  They’ve introduced him exactly as they did with Finn, he sings, he’s the quarterback….it’s kinda uneccessary unless we see some sort of nefariousness later I suppose.  Sunshine getting scooped up by Vocal Adreneline — Rachel made it happen (source of conflict for glee club later I’m sure) — it will be fun to see how she fits in but we’ve been down the path of their rivalry before so it’s got potential to get stale.

Gotta say that the best part of the episode was the preview for next week’s Brittney episode.  It’s going to be AWESOME!

I also tried The Event and honestly don’t know that I’ll keep up with that one.  It paled in comparison to Lost and the disjointed premier that tried to give us everyone’s back story quickly enough so they could cram in “the event” in the first episode made it seem very convoluted and rushed.  I’m going to try this week to see if it piques my interest further but honestly don’t know if I’ll keep with it.  I also caught the Biggest Loser, but it’s not worth spending loads of time on here because it just basically gave back story on everyone who was selected to go to the ranch.  Castle was great he and Beckett still have it and I like that they’re giving more time to the rest of the crew.  Great ensemble cast with the ability to do the fun and funny as well as the serious.

I’ve still got Fringe, The Mentalist (which I’m watching as we speak and love me some Simon Baker!) and Grey’s on DVR to get through too!