TV Rots Your Brain

How could I let myself go a full week without another post? I was doing so well last weekend, but then I fell right back into that big ol' apathetic hole this blog usually sits in throughout the week. But I guess since we're all here now, why don't we spend a little time getting to know one another?

I know I talk an awful lot about movies, but I also watch quite a bit of television. Too much television, actually. And since the new season is starting, I figure I might as well discuss some of the shows I'm watching.

First on my list is Heroes, which returned for its third season with two new episodes this past Monday. Like a good number of people, I thought the second season of Heroes was uninspiring at best. To tell you the honest truth, I thought it sucked donkey butt. And I don't know if I can truly judge it just by the two episodes I've seen thus far, but this new season seems to be better than the previous one.

I do have a few complaints, like does a thoroughly useless character like Maya gets to stay on the show and have hot, steamy, superpowered sex with Mohinder Suresh while poor Molly Walker (who just may be one of the most adorable characters I've ever seen on television) gets written out with just a cheap throwaway line? And why does it look like Peter's cute Irish girlfriend, the one who got stranded in a dystopian future, will be forgotten about? I know there was a vocal group of Heroes fans who didn't like the character, but if they're just going to ditch her altogether, you'd think they could just tie up a loose end or two. Maybe they could do that in an eventual episode later in the season, I don't know. But it would be just plain lazy to forget about her.

And going back to Mohinder for a second, that storyline they've started with him trying to give himself superpowers is not going to end well. And I'll tell you why. Do you remember the remake of The Fly, where Jeff Goldblum is so sure his new scientific discovery will be successful that he uses himself as a guinea pig? Oh, sure, things started out cool. He was walking on the ceiling and snapping some biker's forearm in half with one hand and generally kicking all kinds of ass. But then by the end of the movie, things had taken one horrific turn for the worst and Geena Davis had to shoot him in the face with a shotgun. If Mohinder gets shot in the face at the end of the season, just know that you heard it here first.

My relationship with Heroes is on shaky ground thanks to that awful season last year, but I'm not ready to give up on it yet. The first two episodes of this new season have, in my eyes, have gotten the show back on the road to redemption. So we'll just have to see how it goes.

My Name Is Earl also started back up with two new episodes on Thursday, and I'll say it's the funniest show on television now. Name any comedy on TV, and I'll say that My Name Is Earl is funnier. Screw The Office, screw Entourage. My Name Is Earl is where it's at. The "Eye of the Tiger" bit from Thursday night's second episode was gold, and Jamie Pressly and Ethan Suplee are just fantastic. If you aren't watching My Name Is Earl, you should be ashamed of yourself.

And then there's the shows whose new seasons began earlier in the month. Like Smallville, for example. I'll admit that Smallville's writing has been consistently stupid since its inception, but I'm a sucker for comic book things, so I'll keep on watching. We're two episodes into Smallville's eighth season, and the show's new creative team are finally advancing the mythology. I mean, you could practically call the show "Metropolis" now. And yeah, this advance towards Clark Kent becoming Superman is about two or three seasons too late. But better late than never, I guess. I am bummed that the best actors on the show - Michael Rosenbaum and John Glover - are no longer on the show, but Allison Mack and the very awesome Justin Hartley still around, so that's a plus. And Kristin Kreuk has pretty much left the show, so hey, the show can only get better, right? Judging a season by only two episodes is tough, but considering the strides they've taken thus far in ushering in Clark's eventual escapades as the Man of Steel, I have high hopes for Smallville.

In the time slot immediately following Smallville is the second of only two shows I watch on the CW Network, Supernatural. I missed a lot of the first season of Supernatural due to scheduling conflicts (My Name Is Earl was on in the same time slot, and I had yet to discover downloading episodes), but after finally getting to watch the show on a regular basis, it's become one of my favorites. It's been consistently strong, and the two episodes of the fourth season have been no different. The fact that they'll do episodes that go back and reference even minor events from the show's past episodes a real sense of continuity that I can respect. The season's primary story arc - the Winchester brothers are charged by an angel with the task of stopping a demon from letting the devil loose on Earth - could make for some interesting television, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Another returning show I'm watching rather faithfully is Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I really enjoyed the previous season of the show, because I thought it was a fun spin on the Terminator mythology. Besides, at its worst, it's still a teensy bit better than Terminator 3. Summer Glau and Lena Headey are both very good, and Brian Austin Green is solid in his role, as is Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson (though you can tell she's not a seasoned actress). But in my eyes, Thomas Dekker still hasn't fully shown that he was the best person for the role of John Connor. I don't know, maybe I'm still seeing him as the dorky kid that hung out with Hayden Panettiere during the first season of Heroes. Maybe I'll warm up to him, I don't know.

And of all the shows I'm following, the only new one of the bunch is the HBO series True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris's series of "Southern Vampire" books. I'd seen the advertisements for it in Wizard Magazine, and I thought the concept - vampires reveal their existence to the world and end up being looked upon as second-class citizens - was an interesting one. But just my luck, I unfortunately don't have HBO. So thanks to my good friend known as the Internet, I get to watch it after all. I'm three episodes into True Blood, and I'm really enjoying it thus far. The writing is entertaining and lead actors Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer are both really good, but then again, so is the supporting cast as well. The show has already been picked up for a second season, so I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who likes it.

And that's about it for this one. Just thought I'd bring everyone up to speed on what I'm watching, and what you should be watching. Because as we all know, my opinions are law. (Wait, why are you laughing at me like that?)