the shallow post
Oct. 31st, 2002 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanSquee!!! It's Jeremy from "Sports Night"!!!!!!
Josh Molina guest-starred in last night's "West Wing" episode as the campaign manager of a guy who had died while running for office in California. (Unfortunate timing with Wellstone, but they *had* set up this storyline a few weeks ago by having the characters talk about the guy who'd died.) Josh's character is being set up as the replacement for Rob Lowe's character, Sam, who in this episode said that he would consider running for the dead guy's seat. (If the dead guy wins the election, the Democrats get to hold a special election to decide who'll replace him.) This is so SWEET! I was all upset over Rob Lowe leaving, thinking that whoever they got to replace him was going to suck. And I hadn't been spoiled, so it was a complete surprise when Jeremy, I mean Josh, showed up -- and I love him, so I'd love for him to be Lowe's replacement! Yay!
(In case you missed the connection, both "West Wing" and "Sports Night" are/were created and written by the same guy. Hence why you often see actors crossing over.)
I was very pleased with how good this episode was overall. I had been getting increasingly unhappy with the show over the last few episodes. I still really, really hate the whole assassination/coverup storyline, but the election and all the other stuff is getting really interesting. I loved the part where they fooled Toby, and I love the whole Toby-and-his-ex-wife storyline, and I loved the part where Abby cut off the President's tie (and I love Stockard Channing as the first lady)! So there was much
of the good here. Yay.
Oddly, they didn't show a "next week on West Wing" trailer, even though they said they would. But there *is* a new episode next week -- the election episode. Yay.
And:
I keep meaning to write a longer post on last Sunday's "Angel" episode, but I haven't gotten to it, so I'll sum up. It's sad when you care more about the C-plot than the A- or B-plot. In this case I consider "Cordy's back! but where has she been?" the A-plot, and "there's a new Big Bad a-brewin'" the B-plot, and "Wes and Lilah sittin' in a tree" the C-plot.
The Cordy-related stuff was, alas, fairly damn lame. The part where Connor whisked her off was terribly contrived, and only the later conversation where she said "I dunno why, but somehow I trust you" saved it from being completely nonsensical. OK, if they're trying to imply that there's some mystical occult forces making Cordy feel that she can trust Connor, that's better than just "I don't trust these other people and you're handy," which is how it seemed at first.
The end-of-the-world stuff is also lame because it's still so vague. I hate that shit. Just get to the fightin' already. Yawn. Even Lorne couldn't make thet stuff interesting, and I love Lorne.
The Wes/Lilah stuff, on the other hand, was just sooooo good. I love the writing, the acting, the directing. I love the depth and nuance of their relationsh...er, I mean acquaintance. ;) I love the little touches like the kiss on the forehead that make you think maybe they have gooey insides after all, and then the betrayals that make you go "whoa, okay, still with the evil." I love the implication that they've talked about their Thing, even made bets about it; and I love the way they can say so much without many words. I could go on and on, but I wax incoherent right about now, so I'll leave it at this: I find the W/L stuff the most interesting part of the show nowadays, and that's kinda sad because it's only about 10% of any given episode. Sigh.
And since I'm at it:
I liked last week's "Firefly" episode, perhaps better than any other ep so far. I liked seeing a little bit of how the characters came together on the ship, their early interactions and so forth. I'm a little sad that they've apparently decided not to make Kaylee a lesbian after all (I have it on good authority that she was obviously a lesbian in the original never-aired pilot!), but I can live with that since it's so clear that Inara isn't picky about her customers' gender. I liked the part where Mal warned Inara not to let Jayne take over things, and I liked that Mal was all macho and stayed with the ship. I really liked the whole idea that the supposed rescuers were actually pirates; it fits with the general sort of anarchist future-society that Joss has painted here.
I still don't like the whole romance vibe between Mal and Inara, but ehh, we'll see where that goes.
And finally, "John Doe." I won't do a cut for this one since it's not really spoilery. I'll just say that I'm still watching it and still enjoying it. I know that, as some have said (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
munoz?), the premise is fairly unoriginal and maybe even cliched, but I find the execution very engaging. The lead actor keeps it interesting (although I really hate the young girl sidekick) and the little twists in each episode are really keeping me guessing. And I'm rooting for JD to hook up with the cop chick. I think she wants him. ;)
OK, that's my shallow TV-related post for the day. Still haven't watched this week's "Smallville" episode yet so no spoilers there. I know you're very disappointed.
Josh Molina guest-starred in last night's "West Wing" episode as the campaign manager of a guy who had died while running for office in California. (Unfortunate timing with Wellstone, but they *had* set up this storyline a few weeks ago by having the characters talk about the guy who'd died.) Josh's character is being set up as the replacement for Rob Lowe's character, Sam, who in this episode said that he would consider running for the dead guy's seat. (If the dead guy wins the election, the Democrats get to hold a special election to decide who'll replace him.) This is so SWEET! I was all upset over Rob Lowe leaving, thinking that whoever they got to replace him was going to suck. And I hadn't been spoiled, so it was a complete surprise when Jeremy, I mean Josh, showed up -- and I love him, so I'd love for him to be Lowe's replacement! Yay!
(In case you missed the connection, both "West Wing" and "Sports Night" are/were created and written by the same guy. Hence why you often see actors crossing over.)
I was very pleased with how good this episode was overall. I had been getting increasingly unhappy with the show over the last few episodes. I still really, really hate the whole assassination/coverup storyline, but the election and all the other stuff is getting really interesting. I loved the part where they fooled Toby, and I love the whole Toby-and-his-ex-wife storyline, and I loved the part where Abby cut off the President's tie (and I love Stockard Channing as the first lady)! So there was much
of the good here. Yay.
Oddly, they didn't show a "next week on West Wing" trailer, even though they said they would. But there *is* a new episode next week -- the election episode. Yay.
And:
I keep meaning to write a longer post on last Sunday's "Angel" episode, but I haven't gotten to it, so I'll sum up. It's sad when you care more about the C-plot than the A- or B-plot. In this case I consider "Cordy's back! but where has she been?" the A-plot, and "there's a new Big Bad a-brewin'" the B-plot, and "Wes and Lilah sittin' in a tree" the C-plot.
The Cordy-related stuff was, alas, fairly damn lame. The part where Connor whisked her off was terribly contrived, and only the later conversation where she said "I dunno why, but somehow I trust you" saved it from being completely nonsensical. OK, if they're trying to imply that there's some mystical occult forces making Cordy feel that she can trust Connor, that's better than just "I don't trust these other people and you're handy," which is how it seemed at first.
The end-of-the-world stuff is also lame because it's still so vague. I hate that shit. Just get to the fightin' already. Yawn. Even Lorne couldn't make thet stuff interesting, and I love Lorne.
The Wes/Lilah stuff, on the other hand, was just sooooo good. I love the writing, the acting, the directing. I love the depth and nuance of their relationsh...er, I mean acquaintance. ;) I love the little touches like the kiss on the forehead that make you think maybe they have gooey insides after all, and then the betrayals that make you go "whoa, okay, still with the evil." I love the implication that they've talked about their Thing, even made bets about it; and I love the way they can say so much without many words. I could go on and on, but I wax incoherent right about now, so I'll leave it at this: I find the W/L stuff the most interesting part of the show nowadays, and that's kinda sad because it's only about 10% of any given episode. Sigh.
And since I'm at it:
I liked last week's "Firefly" episode, perhaps better than any other ep so far. I liked seeing a little bit of how the characters came together on the ship, their early interactions and so forth. I'm a little sad that they've apparently decided not to make Kaylee a lesbian after all (I have it on good authority that she was obviously a lesbian in the original never-aired pilot!), but I can live with that since it's so clear that Inara isn't picky about her customers' gender. I liked the part where Mal warned Inara not to let Jayne take over things, and I liked that Mal was all macho and stayed with the ship. I really liked the whole idea that the supposed rescuers were actually pirates; it fits with the general sort of anarchist future-society that Joss has painted here.
I still don't like the whole romance vibe between Mal and Inara, but ehh, we'll see where that goes.
And finally, "John Doe." I won't do a cut for this one since it's not really spoilery. I'll just say that I'm still watching it and still enjoying it. I know that, as some have said (
munoz?), the premise is fairly unoriginal and maybe even cliched, but I find the execution very engaging. The lead actor keeps it interesting (although I really hate the young girl sidekick) and the little twists in each episode are really keeping me guessing. And I'm rooting for JD to hook up with the cop chick. I think she wants him. ;)OK, that's my shallow TV-related post for the day. Still haven't watched this week's "Smallville" episode yet so no spoilers there. I know you're very disappointed.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-10-31 02:05 pm (UTC)Frankly, after the return of Keifer on 24, I was testosteroned out.
no subject
Date: 2002-10-31 07:06 pm (UTC)Yeah, I was online later Tuesday night and everyone was all, "tonight's episode, ehh" so I figured there was no need to rush out and watch it. I did FF to the end to watch the trailer for *next* week, which everyone's squeeing about. ;)
Frankly, after the return of Keifer on 24, I was testosteroned out.
I ended up deciding not to watch 24, but now I'm dying to know what the big plot twist in the first episode was! Spoil me please! (pisces@englishchick.com)
no subject
Date: 2002-10-31 02:49 pm (UTC)John Doe is a good show. It's not original and it's often repetitive, but they've shown how they can take the solve-a-mystery-catch-a-bad-guy formula and make it relevant to the overall storyline. This way the character has an actual purpose aside from the boring and useless "I'm a good guy, so I fight crime" kind of thing. The actor's voice is compelling, although I think that jaw could do with a bit of a shave off the bone structure. The girl sidekick seems to have no purpose, sadly, and no one ever uses William Forsyth (the bartender guy) properly. Finally, he's not the heavy bad guy with the gravelly voice, and he's stuck behind a countertope. No fair.
I know way too much about Angel now, though. Spoilers BAD.
no subject
Date: 2002-10-31 07:12 pm (UTC)Yeah, and we don't know enough about Simon to make me give a crap about him, but it's early yet.
I know way too much about Angel now, though. Spoilers BAD.
Heh. I've actually been seeking out Angel spoilers (also Smallville). It was so sucky last year, I decided to become a spoiler-slut. So I got lots of Angel spoilers and this makes me happy. :) Of course, half of it is probably foilers.
(I'm still utterly spoiler-free for Buffy, though, with the exception of one casting spoiler that was impossible to avoid!)
no subject
Date: 2002-10-31 03:01 pm (UTC)Is the scuttlebutt really that he'll replace Rob Lowe? I like Sam, and all, but....*Josh Molina*!!
no subject
Date: 2002-10-31 07:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2002-11-01 10:21 pm (UTC)Oh, that was so great. I hope Sam sticks around; I love that Rob Lowe is so great in that part that you can forget he's Rob Lowe -- but oh, man, to have Jeremy on West Wing, how cool.
You have to understand, my wife and I were such Sports Nights fans that we didn't watch the first season of West Wing because we were so mad at Sorkin for abandoning Sports Night.
Now, if only we could get Natalie and Dan on the show...