TV Time

Well I feel I have a lot to say about the current television season, but I have been so busy with school and coaching volleyball (we won our first game tonight!) that I haven't really been able to sit down and reflect on the shows that I have been watching. So before I go to bed, I thought let's try to verbalize some of the shows that I have been following thus far. With the Vancouver Canucks season upon us I thought I would try to tie everything together.

Gossip Girl and Chuck: The Sedin Twins

Daniel and Henrik Sedin aren't flashy, but they are dependable. You can count on the twins producing almost a point a game. Whether or not they will show up in the playoffs is a different matter, but I digress. What is clear, are the twins are getting incrementally better with each passing season.

It is interesting that Gossip Girl and Chuck share the same creator, Josh Schwartz, the creator of the O.C. Some episodes in their inaugural seasons were pretty clunky. But thus far, I have found both shows have gotten into a pretty good groove. I can depend on Chuck for some good laughs. Morgan and the rejects at Buy More aren't as annoying anymore. And a throwaway character, Captain Awesome has actually been slowly fleshed out. I count on Gossip Girl for some delicious zingers and some great jabs at the social hierarchy of high school reflected in these spoiled brats of upstate New York. If we could get rid of Dan's sister (I don't even know her name) and the stupid Dan-Serena-drag-out-their-romance-by-causing-problems-when there-really-aren't-any-problems, this show could get even better.

The Next Unsung Hero Award a la Alexander Burrows:

Every season, you wonder who will be the unsung hero, the glue and grit of the team. Burrows clearly cannot be up for this award, so I look toward either Mason Raymond or Jannick Hanson. My choice would be Hanson. Why? Any time the commentators keep call you the 'Great Dane" even though he is kinda small makes you a cool choice. And by the way when did Marc Crawford's voice go down an octave? I swore his voice was higher. I had no clue he was doing colour commentary for the CBC broadcast.
Oh yeah, my unsung hero award goes to Ugly Betty, a show people continually refuse to give a chance. I find it quite funny even though it is cheesy at times. It has some of the best one-liners, and if you can turn Vanessa Williams into one of the nastiest characters on TV, really shouldn't you give it a chance?

The New Captain, Bert Luongo:

Naming Roberto Luongo, even though clearly the best player, is an awkward move. A goalie as a captain seems too gimmicky, sort of the new version of 90210. The decision to make your goalie your captain may be perceived as a dumb move. A dumb move akin to reviving 90210. What a brutal, brutal, show. I could write on and on about how bad it is. I don't mind suspending my disbelief as long as the writers take care of the small details. Right off the bat we see the family driving into Beverly Hills. The father is a principal and he is only arriving the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. A principal. Of a massive sized school. No way.

Every time there is an event at a club or bar, the English teacher is there and so are the students. Yes, as a teacher I always make sure I attend after hours non-school related events with my students. We saw a fight, a suggestive oral sex act, drug addiction, and plagiarism in the first episode. Then the second episode in an obvious reaction to the first one which was trying to shock viewers, centered around family values and family bowling night. Take about try-hards. I almost vomited a bit in my mouth. What a disaster. Hey lets make Kelly a school counsellor! And what about having her younger sister a high school student even though that would mean about a twenty year gap by my estimation. Did the writers just throw random darts at some notes on a wall to decide what to do? Too bad the two Canadian actors are saddled with a lame show and they won't be able to benefit like Mr. Priestley did decades before.

The Canucks Season: Boom or Bust?

After the first two Calgary games, I was shocked at seeing speed, toughness and goals scored off the rush. Then the Washington Capitals game came along, a turkey on turkey day. I still cannot comprehend how a team gets three shots over two periods. I have no idea what will happen with this year's Canucks. I don't know if I can take another year of disappointment. I don't know if people realize how tough it is to be a a lifelong Canuck fan. Twenty plus years of this is getting rather old. Sometimes I wish I was born in Boston.

So will this season be great? A return to a winning form like this season's Desperate Housewives and House? Or will it be a bust like Heroes or Grey's Anatomy? I stopped watching Grey's two weeks ago, after Christine got stabbed by an icicle. That was enough for me. And Heroes is now a collage of bad plots tied together in a reactionary result of the writers trying to pacify fans who don't have the patience to see things develop like Lost fans do. This show is so horrendous now that I can't even remember the giddiness of those first episodes of season one. Too many different characters and now I am not even interested in any of them. Sylar working for good reasons? Everything is so stupid and I think it shows that Tim Kring ripped off so many comic book themes early on, but then was at a loss of where to take the show next.

OK, I have to go to bed. I did not even bother to edit this first draft so enjoy as much as you can.