I Can't Believe I Ate The Whole Thing!

I've been peppering Twitter with my thoughts on this whole Leno-NBC-O'Brien brouhaha. Why? Because it's Twitter, and not everything I say there will be Earth-shatteringly important.

Here neither. Which is why I'm going to combine those thoughts...

I've been a fan of Conan's since he was writing for SNL, and then the Simpsons. Of course, I had no idea I was fan of his, because he was little more than an off-screen writer (his appearance as a waiter in the "Five-Timers Club" sketch notwithstanding). Then this gawky red-pompadoured guy took over Letterman's spot on late night, and I had no idea who he was. His monologues were awkward, and his conversations with the fat co-host were stilted. But a couple times each show, he did something so quirky that I took notice. Or he made an off-the-cuff comment that was hilarious. I stuck around, and these tall Irish geek became my favourite late night host.

Leno? Never really a fan. The odd chuckle, usually at others' expense, but generally bland and boring. When Branford Marsalis left the show and Kevin Eubanks came in, the ass-kissery became so obvious that I couldn't bother watching and stuck with Dave when I watched something at 11:35. Plus, the fact that he'd pissed off Letterman and lost him The Tonight Show didn't sit well either.

So my bias is clear.

The disdain for Leno from the rest of late night and other celebs who should know a bit about him tells me that he's made more than a few enemies of the years. At the very least, he hasn't made friends. The fact Zucker and the NBC brain trust think he's the second coming tells me that he's spent most of his time kissing the right asses for his career instead of being genuine to the rest of his community.

The tales of him being a nice guy are sounding more and more like he's a nice guy to his fans, but not in reality.

And it seems to be a foregone conclusion that he's getting The Tonight Show back. NBC doesn't want O'Brien, and while Conan might want the show, he certainly doesn't want NBC. Plus, he's never been hotter than he is now. The rage and sorrow he and his staff are feeling is coming out exactly how it should with that talent - in comedy. Biting, scathing, backhanded comedy. What's NBC going to do? Fire him?

He's got the support of fans, cohorts, and decision-makers elsewhere who see his commercial appeal and talent. He'll find something. All the posturing between him and the NBC brass will result in a lower buy-out than he'll like, but that will buy him the ability to find work immediately instead of down the road.

Leno and NBC? No way this looks good on them. Leno comes off as a small, greedy man in this. He gets his show back that he never wanted to give up. Hey, I called him a douche days ago. It's nice that the world's catching up.

NBC gets some audience back, but loses the last dedicated audience they'll get from this generation at that time slot. The 60+ crowd falling asleep to Jaywalking will die off eventually. The 30+ crowd that knows who the masturbating bear is have a longer lifespan, and more money to spend in that time.

NBC just looks like a bunch of out-of-touch morons. Zucker's gone within the year, barring some miracle shows giving them ratings.

And when Conan does land on his feet, it will be big. It'll be his Tonight Show crew that's in tow with him, but they'll be given free reign. None of the constraints of 55 years of tradition and an audience to appease. None of the awkwardness of his first show, or nervousness of the big one. He'll hit the ground running, with people salivating for what he has to offer.

It'll take time, but eventually, he'll once again find a niche that we can cruise in. No doubt Team Coco will be there to cheer him on.

Bryan Fuller's left Heroes again. He's responsible for the good episodes. He came back halfway through the last season when Pushing Daisies was canned. He's generally credited with why the show got "better" halfway through.

So he's gone again, all hope is lost. Not that I had any to start with.

What's going on with The Mookie this month? Hoy wins? Pauly wins? And now Al wins? I suppose this is all part of the nefarious plan to raise the awareness of the Wednesday ritual. Congrats to Al on a job well done. Way to end it in two consecutive hands with Broadway in both. This time around, we won't have to debate about giving a ToC seat to the organizer. Couldn't have happened to a better guy. Well, okay, it could have happened to ME, but I went out 37th without playing a single hand.

Still haven't seen the Heroes finale. It's sitting at home, waiting to be watched. Tonight! Maybe. If I don't fall asleep or get so wrapped up in chores that I end up cleaning my whole place. Is it sad I only want to watch it so I can rant about it? That I look more forward to bitching about however they messed it up again than actually watching them mess it up?

Where's some new Torchwood or Dr. Who when I need it?

They broke up the Tamil demonstration this morning. Commuters are rejoicing, and war continues in Sri Lanka.

Jays lost 11-3 last night, which means they won't win their 7th straight series. Best they can hope for is a tie. Brian Burres, the rookie who got spanked in the 6th on Saturday, gets the start this afternoon. No idea on the kid - he could be the type to bounce back and buckle down or he could be shaken up and get blown out early. Either way, after giving up 11 runs yesterday and only scoring 3, I expect the Jays to whack around the Royals a bit today.

Blackhawks at Canucks tonight. As I started yesterday, the media's picking up on Luongo vs Khabibulin. I give Luongo the edge here, but the Bulin Wall has a tendency to raise his game when needed. I think the goalie battle overshadows the mounds of talent both of these teams have though.

Now I should go submit LAST year's taxes and get the money the government owes me from then... then I'll work on this year's.

So Sylar is having an identity crisis. This is a problem when you're a shapeshifter. As per usual here, lots of spoilers, this is your warning.






I just can't enjoy this show any more. I'm only watching it because the season is over with the next episode. After watching this episode, I can't believe there's only one episode left this season. The whole thing, once again, feels totally rushed. Everyone will soon be converging on building 26 via one method or another. Sylar and Danko are apparently rounding up everyone in one big sweep thanks to Micah's server being available to them. More on that later.

The Ando-Hiro distrust story is just tired and old. The line about Hiro and Superman both being fascists was great, but Hiro's stupidity power keeps kicking in so he won't listen to his whiney friend. I guess the once again resolved this by the end.

Of course, not before they tried to talk Parkman into helping them. Hey, remember when Parkman had the gift of painting the future? Yah, neither do the writers. Parkman goes back to his ex-wife to return the baby (because that's a safe move, since the agents know all about the baby), is surprised there are agents listening in (shocking!) and awkwardly tries to reconcile with wifey. Is it really his baby? Does maybe wifey have powers? They have a lot to talk about at the cottage... except he's not going because he realized he has to take down the bad government guys who are chasing him before he can have a happy family with his superpowered baby and boring ex-wife. She's such a Daphne rebound.

Sylar going all Norman Bates was a decent touch. It's a shame that his mother is/was one of the most annoying and milquetoast characters the show has ever seen. But it at least pushes him to full Psycho now, and will confuse the fuck out of his motivation (see: Micah).

Speaking of Rebel... Micah's supposedly a technological genius. He can talk to machines and is a teenager, so therefore is aware of all new technology instantly. He doesn't have a fully-charged laptop and a full UPS hooked up to his setup so if someone, say the the government agency that's hunting you, cuts the power to your block, you can still maintain a net connection and access to your vital systems long enough to create a distraction? He should have been able to send out copies of important data to offsite locations and delete the local copies instantly before creating a shitstorm of alarms and problems that would help him escape. Hell, the fact he had to PACK before running was idiotic, but I'll chalk that up to being a kid.

Sylar actually listening to Micah was an unexpected touch. Explaining it away as his mother's personality dominating him was a bit weak. Michah's look of "oh shit, this dude is way more fucked up than I thought" was excellent though. Sylar having the big fake tear running down his cheek was just cheesy. Although it did remind me of the tear running down Tracy's frozen face. Micah has such an effect on people.

So we spend all of last episode building the Petrelli-Bennett family unit. There's talk about a new co-operation of the family. And then... Nathan flies off to confront Sylar on his own? Nathan knows EXACTLY what Sylar is capable of, and Nathan's only power is to fly. What the fuck did he think he could do? He was even warned by everyone (I even think Princess Leia and Admiral Ackbar showed up to tell him) that IT'S A TRAP, and he just strolls into his office. Lucky for him Danko was there to taser his ass before Sylar found a faster means of transportation.

And then Sylar decides to tell Danko to fuck off, he wants to be President now. And turns his back on Danko? Sylar's obviously not thinking straight, and is certainly letting emotion get in the way of logic. Does he not know that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or the one? Anyway, he gets knifed in the back of the head (pretty kickass), and then GETS UP. Sooooooo... did Danko just miss the spot? Did it move in all the shapeshifting? Is this some sort of freaky side effect of something so that Sylar is now unkillable? I suppose decapitation could still work.

Next week is the finale, but this felt like a mid-season episode that has a whole whack of plot left to go. The preview implies death and mayhem next week... and also that Noah and Angela (at least) are free after being surrounded by bad guys at the end of the episode. I predict a clusterfuck of a finale that will just piss me off.

I mean, this wasn't a TERRIBLE episode, but the show on the whole is so aggravating that I'm done. I shall soldier on for one more episode though.

It seems people are happy with the Tim Kring penned episode that aired last night. Ooo! It's flashbacky! Those are always good!

Sigh.

While I don't claim to be as witty as this guy, I seem to have become as cynical when it comes to Heroes. Two episodes left, and unless they wow me, I doubt I'll watch the next season.

I think part of the problem has become that the characters, the actors, and the stories have all been too far gone for too long. I just can't bring myself around to caring. Noah still shows some signs of being complex and interesting and smart, especially last week, but he's bounced around so much alliance-wise that it's just getting old. At leaat he's better at it than Nathan.

Anyway, the episode. Last week left us with the question "why are they digging?" This week answered it with, "no particular reason." Matrelli made some blahblahblah about needing proof her sister was dead and looking for a scrap of clothing or something.

50 years, unlimited resources, access to the most powerful people in the world, and you NEVER CHECKED IF YOUR SISTER WAS ALIVE? On top of that, you're getting your family to dig up every grave in the place to look for some evidence one of the bodies is your sister.

Ugh.

Anyway, it doesn't matter, because her sister can control the weather and a storm springs up and Angela discovers her dream is literal... like they've ALWAYS BEEN. I don't know where this bullshit about having to interpret them came from, but there's been no discussion of that in the past.

So, her sister has been stirring up dust storms at Coyote Flats for 50 years whenever she needs to go steal something. Smart move. Again, Angela never noticed the strange, localized weather patterns at the site of her sister's supposed death over the last half century? Give me a fucking break.

The one remotely cool part of that storyline was the explanation for why Angela stole those socks that one time last season or whenever it was. I wonder if Kring really had that part figured out then. I'll go with yes, because he's the creator of the series.

Everyone else's story is unimportant, Nathan, Peter, Noah, Claire, and Mohinder were essentially window dressing for the episode.

Then there's the flashbacks. Okay, the other flashback episodes were good because they involved actors and characters we already knew and filled in questions we already had. How did HRG joing the company? How did he get Claire? How did Claude become his partner? Where'd the Haitian come from? Hey! That's Eric Roberts! And then Eric Roberts shows up regularly. "Company Man" was one of the best episodes of ANYTHING on TV that season. "1961"? Not so much.

See, this flashback episode wasn't needed. It was created from the previous episode. Coyote Flats didn't exist before then. Everyone who was in the flashback except Angela was dead. The only thing that interested me was what Deveaux's power was... and it was nothing new - mind reading and control. Okay, so he was a Parkman? That's just lazy. In fact, the flashback changed the origin story of Linderman.

If you follow the online comics, you'll know that Linderman was a young conscript in Vietnam who met Arthur Patrelli (who had no powers) while part of his company, assigned to kill a girl in a village who could make plants grow really fast. He saved Patrelli's life with his ability and they became friends. This origin had already been ignored and discounte in the past, and now it was taken even further. Sure, you could claim the comics aren't canon, but they're written and published and endorsed by NBC and the creators of the program. This isn't fan-fic or some loosely controlled universe like Star Trek. They've bridged stories from the comics into the series (see: Wireless), and vice versa, but they seem to also conveniently ignore them when they change their minds.

I guess it provided motivation for Primatech, and possibly lays the groundwork for the next season - the Patrelli's start a new "Family" to oversee things. This keeps known characters around and allows the introduction of new ones I suppose.

And Alice had better damned well play a role in the next couple episodes, otherwise this whole episode is essentially useless. Her insansity and perhaps a quest for vengeance could be woven in quite nicely.

The ending, with Sylar as Nathan talking to the press was a nice touch. It easily puts Nathan back in play in DC and could set up a nice "who's who" bit of writing as Nathan and Sylar both try to get the ear of the President. Of course, the writers will make it more like an episode of Scooby-Doo and have them running through various doors in a long hallway instead.

At least the season is almost over. Not that I'm even the least bit curious how it ends (death of Danko, maybe Sylar "dies" for the 3rd straight season finale, and probably one less Patrelli are my guesses).

Oh, and if anyone doubts for a second that baby Matt Parkman will play a key role in shutting down Sylar's powers when all seems dire, you haven't been paying any attention to this show. Or maybe they'll put in the twist and have the baby turn off the good guys' powers! Or everybody's!

Of course, the Haitian could have done that easily, or is he still too busy in Haiti?

An episode that took us nowhere, but perhaps set up for bigger things. Oh, spoiler alert, blahblahblah.

I need to point out two Sylar powers that are being conveniently ignored.

1.- He has the ability to CHANGE THE PERCEPTION OF REALITY. Remember that fat chick from the first season? The one who saved him and brought him to the jungle? She could make people see her however she chose, could make their surroundings appear however she wanted, and generally confuse the fuck out of you. Why the hell would Sylar need to be a shapeshifter? Especially when it's obviously not a pleasant experience.

2.- He has the ability to tell people what to do and they'll do it. Not Parkman's mind trick, but that other girl's one from season 1 that hung around with HRG. He took her power of compulsion. So someone sticking a gun in his face is absolutely pointless, without even mentioning the telekenisis. The whole scene in the apartment was idiotic until the gun went down.

Okay, glad that's off my chest.

This was a setup episode. I can usually forgive setup episodes in series with large arcs... except it feels like most of the episodes in this chapter have been setup episodes. For what it was, it was decent.

Claire and Nathan are in Mexico, hiding out. Claire hawks her necklace and Nathan plans to drink it into more money. Nathan is not in the Navy any more (or Marines, or whatever the hell he was in) and gets schooled by a frat boy. Good thing Claire steps up with her magical can't-get-drunk-cuz-of-the-healing powers. Something about the liver regenerating. I'm pretty sure inebriation isn't caused by liver damage... but it is in fact, the other way around.

It appears the whole point of the trip to Mexico was for daughter and dad to bond... again. Also, it was to drive home that Nathan doesn't have any friends in Washington any more. Speaking of that... why the fuck do we only get 3 minutes of President Worf this whole season? Why bring in Michael Dorn and not have him involved in any way?

Okay, so Claire and Biodad are all coolio now that Nathan got drunk and apologized and bought Claire her necklace back by hawking his very nice watch that Claire didn't lose in a drinking game. Speaking of which, is it cool that NBC shows an 17 or 18 year-old girl going head-to-head with a frat boy in a tequila drinking contest. I don't have a problem with it, but think of the childrens.

Meanwhile the other two surviving Petrelli's are chillaxing in a big church. Were they in DC or NY? I thought it was that big church in DC at first, which had that awesome scene in The West Wing where President Martin Sheen went mano-a-deo with God... LOVE that monologue. Sadly, no Sheen here, and Peter's bitching at Jesus didn't quite work as well. Maybe it needed more Latin. The whole point of this portion? To let us know Matrelli has acute insomnia and hasn't "earned" sleep yet. Also, that HRG is going to get his ass handed to him down the road for letting them go, even if nobody supposedly knows. Oh yah, and also so Peter and mom can rebond as well and she can reveal that she was a terrible mother and has lots of secrets and manipulates people. Mom sleeps, has a vision we don't get to see, and they're off to gather up the rest of the Petrelli clan and then see her sister, who, thanks to the preview for next week, we know is long dead.

Which brings us to the main plot and the only really interesting thing in this episode - Sylar's partnership with crazy-eyes-in-charge-of-the-project guy. I'll say it here - if not for Zachary Quinto's Sylar, Heroes doesn't make it past season 2. Anyhoo, Sylar decides to use his mega-badassery to help the nutjob running the round-em-up project. Good move by Sylar, as it protect him, and will leave him all alone in the superpower club if he catches them all. My major problems with this plotline in this episode are above. The twist of the shapeshifter taking on Sylar's form actually surprised me, so good for them on that one - it's rare I don't guess these things. The fact the shapeshift seems permanent (unless actively changed back) could make things interesting down the line, but I'll guess is actually an out for the show shold Quinto decide to pursue movies (ie.- the next 12 Star Trek films). Have him shift to someone else, and get stuck, or not be able to switch back to himself... new actor, no problem, still Sylar. Does anybody really think HRG buys that Sylar is dead? In fact, I'd guess that seeing the body he figured out that Sylar is alive and working with whatshisname now. Fun times.

Okay, so next week the Petrellis should get together, exhume a body, rewrite the origin story a 3rd or 4th time, and Sylar should be badass and maybe not trustworthy while he corrupts this already corrupt department as HRG struggles to manipulate and plot its demise. Also, Hiro and Ando and baby Matt Parkman will likely meet up with Big Matt Parkman (see, no Daphe, but now he has a baby in his life), and Mohinder (btw - where's Molly again?) while Micah keeps rebelling it up.

In other words... standard.

So I "watched" Heroes last night. I was paying more attention to the PPI/Riverchasers game on my laptop, which is problematic when Hiro and Ando are on screen. The writing is still sloppy and lazy, but at least they're going places again.

*SPOILER*

Hiro's got his expected neutered powers back. With the other occurences in the episode, it looks like flying is the only way to get anywhere quickly now. This is a good thing - Hiro controlling time = good. Hiro travelling through time = bad.

The method of achieving this restoration of power? Somewhat lame. But it does tie into season 1 again, as does the the completely expected revelation of Rebel. A shame that Micah had such a rude awakening to the truth about politics.

Anyway, some cool moments did exist, but the real strength was the visuals (with the exception of Matt & Daphne's scene, that was sub-basement level budget green screen there). The cold snap looked really cool, as did the shattering afterwards. The wink was fucking retarded.

So yah... umm... the DP can keep his job I guess.

BSG's finale was Friday.

As expected, it dealt heavily in spirituality, cycles of life, and individual relationships. It also involved a good deal of introspection and recollection. Oh, and giant space battles.

I've seen a bunch of critiques along the line of "loved the first half, hated the second." To them I say - it's a shame your brain doesn't work.

Okay, spoilers from here on out. You've been warned.

The first half was the climax. The second half was the denouement that any work requires to be complete. We've spent 4 seasons with these characters, and I think giving them 40 minutes or so to reflect on their lives and plan their futures is well-deserved and brings an excellent sense of closure to the series.

The first half doesn't actually warrant too much discussion. It was an episode. A very good one, but nothing much beyond the usual quality of the series. An obviously bigger budget, and a few retrospective moments that filled in holes. That's not to say it didn't have some memorable parts.

Athena talking to Boomer in the Baseship, and Starbuck's "can we please not tell her the plan?" line was great. I love these little twists of the convention where characters actually realize how idiotic a particular action would be.

Boomer's rationale for returning Hera was also interesting to me. While it might seem trite that she "owed one" to the Old Man, it speaks to Boomer's storyline more deeply than that. You have to go back to the first season and her anguish over realizing what she was, and how devastated she was to have nearly killed Adama, who she very much considered a father figure. The brief flashback filled in the final piece, and made the choice of where her loyalities were clear.

Baltar choosing to stay with the fleet as his one selfless act was also cheered. My friend instantly dubbed Lee Adama the most powerful man in the universe for being able to convince Gaius to do that. Lee simply tossing Baltar the gun was a nice touch too. No thank you, no good job, just acceptance without question.

I also like that they cleared up my question of "what happens if they don't return?" Admiral Hoshi is a bit silly, but President Lampkin was inspired.

The false peace and promise of resurrection worked well enough as a MacGuffin to Tyrol discovering what Tory's role in Callie's death. The chief strangling his once-lover to death and nobody stepping in to stop him was well-done. Cavil's suicide was somehow fitting and humourous. He'd realized his last hand had played out and that he'd lost. His was a final act of his free will, and a middle finger to the face of his creators.

I do wonder though - why did Galactica jumping while embedded in the colony not cause more damage to the Cylons? Boomer jumping in a raptor NEAR Galactica caused a huge amount of damage... a Battlestar doing the same should be severe.

I love how they managed to keep things mildly ambiguous at the end. Was Kara an angel as well? Were Six's Baltar and Baltar's Six angels? Or were they something more? While it seemed obvious on Earth when everyone was splitting up, it was drawn back into question in the epilogue. I didn't catch it until the second viewing, but the discussion between Six and Baltar hinted that maybe they were more than simply messengers.

The discussion of the random events of complex systems over time being part of "God's plan" suggested a few things. It very much had the feeling of the stories of wagers between God and the Devil. Put Six in a red dress, and Baltar in a crisp suit and perhaps the roles become clear. Look back at the series and see how Six seemed to influence Baltar towards his own selfish motivations and how her influence often caused Baltar to endanger all of humanity, and it would appear she was trying to influence her side of the bet this last time around. Baltar's appearances to Six were seldom seen, but when they were, he was comforting and her actions often led towards reconciliation with humanity and the "right" thing. Once the end game had been reached for this round, they backed off. Baltar's speech about God being a force of nature that didn't pick sides, and that good and evil were created by man, not divine beings, mucks of the water a bit more. The final line of "You know he doesn't like that name. Silly me. Silly, silly me." shows a playfulness between them. Especially since Six was glancing below the beltline when she said "God's plan". The more I think of it, the more I think Baltar and Six were more than "angels."

In an odd way, it reminds me of Robert Hewitt Wolfe's original plan for Andromeda, where Trance was a light-bringer, or "Lucifer", but was not the devil. There was no inherent evil, merely an interpretation by humanity. I wonder if this discussion happened a few times between Moore and Wolfe while working on DS9.

So where does that put Kara? There are those who call her an angel as well. There are those who suggest that mantle was only taken when she returned. An absent father, a spiritual mother, a life of confusion, service, sin, and redemption. Saviour and destroyer both, she was literally resurrected. She had a destiny from birth, and the most spiritual of the Cylons saw her for what she was. Hell, her father appeared to her and offered comfort and direction when she was most lost. To say Kara Thrace was the Christ-figure in this allegory wouldn't be far off. In many ways, she was the most human of the cast, and constantly struggled to find herself. She was capable of incredible love and fiery anger, of reckless abandon and steel-eyed resolve. She was flawed, she was human, and in the end, she led humanity to the death of its old ways and hope for the future.

One of my favourite scenes in Dogma is when Rufus gets in Bethany's face during her crisis of faith. He asks how she'd feel if she was a 12-year old boy who just discovered he's the son of God... how long would she think it would take to get over that? How about 18 years? Pointing out the gap in Jesus' life in the Bible. It took Kara 4 seasons to come to grips with her role and find peace, even she wasn't consciously aware of that role until the very end. I think of her much like first season Boomer - a sleeper agent, unaware of her purpose, but with one programmed nonetheless.

This spirituality didn't bother me in the least. Sure, it had strong Christian themes, but I think much of it was broad enough that it spanned the concept of spirituality more than religion specifically.

There were moments of the sublime throughout the ending. Lee and Bill saying goodbye, then Kara saying goodbye to Lee, followed immediately with Roslin dying right next to Bill. The Adamas were completely alone, having lost those who they loved most, and being at peace with that. For in reality, they'd been alone the entire time, only finding those whose company they truly desired near the end of the road.

Anders' farewell to Kara was well done as well, and developed a deeper meaning once Kara disappeared. Seeing Helo alive was a relief as well.

But the most touching moment of the last act had to be Baltar saying, "I know about farming you know..." and breaking down. One line, wonderfully delivered brought his character full-circle, and even further down the road of redemption.

The final homage to the original series was touching as well with the fleet heading into the sun. It's much better than everyone arriving at Earth in 1980, that's for sure.

I also liked most of the ending. One of the complaints I'd seen out there in the past was the fact these humans from another galaxy shared many idioms and cliches with us. Cigars called stogies, curses that were the same, slang that was no different. The ultimate example was of course All Along the Watchtower. I suppose, being the descendants of Cylons (and who's to say that the Sixes, Eights, and Twos didn't procreate? Or maybe Galen got busy with the natives), there could be a form of genetic memory that passed along the concepts that led to this. As was pointed out at the end, we're now close to the same tipping point as Kobol, Caprica, and the original Earth, so the circumstances may be right for these aspects to come to the fore again.

Besides, Hendrix did his cover of Watchtower months after Dylan released it. If only they knew they were covering a song that was over 150,000 years old.

Speaking of Galen - a cold, lonely, hilly island in the highlands up north? So Galen the engineer is the ancestor of all that is Gaelic? Cute.

The epilogue was surprising. Almost as if the powers that be figured it wasn't obvious enough that they were on our Earth and wanted to leave no doubt. A lot was spelled out in those two minutes, which seemed to go against the grain. The Ron Moore cameo was nice though. Ending with Hendrix's Watchtower was a nice touch, but I think the dancing robots went on too long.

All-in-all, I loved it. I thought it was a great send-off to a great series.

Battlestar Galactica comes to an end on Friday. I think all four seasons took something like 6 years to play out if you include the mini-series. Year long breaks in the middle of seasons are an exercise in patience.

Warning: If you're behind on the series, beyond here be spoilers, and I'm not changing the text colour.




But now they have two hours to explain and resolve a load of stuff. Who is Starbuck? What will become of Anders? Does anybody live? Why is Hera so important? Will there be piece? Will it turn out Cavil is a hologram from the future who's really helping his friend Sam figure out what to do so that his next leap may be the leap home? Why was Ellen so pissed that Tigh slept with a six? She was frakking Cavil on New Caprica.

Anyway, there's loads of speculation out there I'm sure. I haven't really read much. In any other series, one might expect everyone just barely survives and soldiers on, but with BSG, the possibility of 90% of everyone important dying is very likely. There are so few television tragedies these days, that it might be welcome.

I have little original to add to the discussion, but something struck me while I was sitting on the thinking chair. I'll assume the final episode starts with a quick brush off of the fleet, with the quorum in charge and maybe the Basestar as the only means of defence (unless it goes with Galactica. I'm assuming the old girl's going into one last battle). Then comes some strategizing, reminiscing, moral questioning, self-doubt, redemption, and some ass-kicking space battles.

The real question is - who lives and who dies? On a macro scale, do the Cylons die? Do the humans? If the Cylons die, do all of them go? Or just the Cavil-lead ones? Do the original 5 sacrifice themselves?

I only see one reason for staging the final episode on the edge of a black hole's event horizon -- someone's going in. I imagine that somehow, Galactica & crew will get the Cylon fleet over the edge, but may have to sacrifice themselves to do it. Final scene? The Cylons and Galactica getting pulled towards the oblivion. Of course, with Galactica barely holding together as it is, I imagine it may get torn apart.

Another thought - Cylon goop in the bones of the ship... does this mean they maybe don't get recognized by the sensors right away? Or confuse the centurions?

Or maybe it all ends with everyone getting along an discovering that love and faith are truly the answers that will bring peace and prosperity to both races. After all, those have been the primary themes throughout the series... oh, and family.

Two BBT4 games down for me so far. So far? Out on hands I play no differently any day of the week. But as always, I can't focus on individual hands for my ousting.

I've been playing far too weak-loose so far. Yesterday's Riverchaser's game was an exercise in doubling up and giving it away, only to double up again. I had almost no follow-up bets, folded far too much to any pressure, and basically played like I was against the bloggers from the first BBT, not the ones who have actually discovered c-bets, turn bluffs, re-raises, and storytelling. I'll have to step it up.

Or stop catching up on Heroes and Dollhouse (two incredibly mediocre items themselves) while playing.

Skillz tonight, but I doubt I'll make it. Mookie tomorrow, and I MIGHT show up for that, but I'll probably be late.

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Heroes - Haven't seen last night's episode yet, but the previous two were two hours of yawn. Hiro discovers he can be a hero without his powers? I think I wrote something about that once. Incredilame. And Mohinder stays behind to bitch at Parkman about stuff? I dunno, if your main objective is to run and hide from people trying to catch you, than maybe going to your home country, where there are over a billion other people and a terribly inefficient government and infrastructure might be an option you'd look at?

And of course, Parkman continues being a dolt. He probes Noah's mind and skips the part where Angela and him come up with a plan to undermine the entire operation? Or was that just Noah blocking it from him? No... Parkman's just a moron. And it should be a surprise to absolutely nobody that Daphne is still alive.

Bah. Lame.

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Dollhouse - I'm an episode behind on this one too. The second episode was better than the first, but was all kinds of uneven in terms of plotting and editing. There MAY be hope for this, but right now it feels far too scattershot to come together cohesively. I think Joss will have another early cancelation on this one, but without the huge DVD sales to save his hide.

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BSG - Well, this is still good TV at least. I seriously question how they can effectively wrap up all the loose ends with only a handful of epsiodes left. There could be some rushing here.

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Jimmy Fallon - One episode, especially when Robert DeNiro is your first guest, isn't enough to go by, but Jimmy better shape up fast or Chevy might get a run for his money on "shortest life of a talk show."

The opening was WEAK. It's like they took Weekend Update's rejected jokes and used them. Plus, Jimmy's eyes never left the cue cards, which was obvious to anyone who was looking in the general direction of the TV.

The stuff with Conan pre-monologue wasn't that bad though. Mostly due to Conan. "Jay isn't leaving." - classic.

Here's the thing, DeNiro and Fallon are obviously at least semi-friends from the handful of stuff they did together on SNL, but Fallon was reacting like he'd never spoken to the guy in his life. Yah, DeNiro is a terrible interview, but Jimmy was sweating buckets... you could almost see the audience in the reflection off his forehad. And the DeNiro "I'm Jimmy Fallon" impression was funny, but lifted directly from when he did it on SNL.

Then Justin Timberlake came on and proved once again that he's just cool. I don't like the guy's music, but if he decided to be a regular cast member on SNL or host his own talk show, I'd watch. He strolls in to the Barry Gibb Talk Show theme (go Roots), instantly puts Fallon at ease, jokes around easily, turns to "Bob DeNiro" and jokes briefly, gets the audience laughing, gets Jimmy being a bit more spontaneous, and generally has a great time and saves the show. If they make it Late Night with Justin Timberlake next week, I wouldn't be all that surprised.

I expect Jimmy will be equally at ease when Tina Fey is on, and maybe less nervous with the other A-minus and B-list celebs he's got this week. There may be hope for him, but he has to relax and find some spontaneity.

As I said on Twitter - not Chevy bad... maybe Sajak bad.

I imagine that Craig Ferguson could see a boost in his ratings.

Consider this line your spoiler warning.

Okay, another not terrible episode of Heroes. They cleared up Peter's power situation. Does him telling Tracy cause problems in the future? Will she sell out his secret? Probably not... the writers aren't that bright. That said, Peter's alteration makes him more interesting I suppose. At least until Ando touches him I'd guess.

Mohinder gives Hiro the best advice yet - run. Hiro of course, refuses, because that's not what a hero does. Of course, he's dead weight for the time being.

Parkman can not only see the future, but has the African dude leading him to art supplies when necessary. That's some gift. Parkman will be the wild card this season, looking for revenge.

Benett is doing what he's doing to protect Claire and his family. Well, that's the opposite of novel. Naturally, he'll turn against Nathan and the government at some point. Probably shortly after Claire gets in trouble... again.

Nathan is realizing that maybe this whole sticking-people-in-camps thing wasn't such a good idea. Especially when those people have a variety of super powers that kick his air-Nathan ability's ass. Nice of his conscience to start coming forward after setting up the season.

And Mama Peterelli isn't too pleased with him. Well, maybe she should have thought about that before helping him out.

Peter is showing some surprising smarts again. That little "grab Nathan so he can fly away" bit at the end was clever. He's also become a bit of a rebel expert it seems, what with his estimation of cell phone tracking time, elimination of traceable assets, etc..

Speedy served her purpose. Does shot=dead? Who knows. Depends if they want Matt to go permanently nuts or not I suppose.

Sylar is still awesome. Now he has microwave-boy as his sidekick, which will likely result in a dead microwave-boy at some point. "And I let you live. Which is kind of a big deal for me." was the line of the show.

But Hiro... he sees a picture of himself protecting a girl in India and assumes that (a) she has a sword (huh?) and (b) this will get him his powers back (wha?). Man, I need one of those swords. Guess we're going to India! Which of course means that Mohinder is king shit for that part of the arc. I wonder if he's just as stupid in Hindi?

All-in-all, a decent episode 2 for moving things forward. The "look" continues to be better, especially the night scenes. It definitely had the feeling of all the pieces being moved to their appropriate places in this chess match. Now if the writers can show themselves to be more competent chess players than a drunken monkey, this could work for them.

Just opened this guy's Heroes recap, but figured I'd write up my thoughts before I read his.

So they've once again started a new chapter. When we last left our intrepid simpletons and morons, Nathan was talking to Worf about rounding up all the Mutants because they were dangerous, but Magneto remembered the Nazi camps and Jean Grey made an impassioned plea to congress in Roy Thomson Hall. Wait... I'm confusing things.

Okay, the first part about Nathan and Worf was right.

Hiro lost his powers to Arthur Petrelli, but Ando got powers from a magic needle, which allowed him to make Speedygirl go so fast she travelled through time because Parkman has an understanding of Relativity commensurate to the knowledge gleaned from a Hostess Cupcake comic book. This meant they could rescue Hiro, but he still ain't not got no powers. Peter can fly because he needled himself and was near Nathan at the time. He saved Nathan, and Nathan disowned him and made friends with President Worf. Mohinder was beat up in a fire, Arthur was shot by Sylar, Sylar was knocked out by Noah and Mama P and Claire before Claire's mom blowed up Primatech. I think I've covered most of it...

Here be spoilers. By spoilers, I mean a complete description and breakdown of the episode. Highlight to read.

Nikki, or whatever her name is now (Tracy? Yah, that sounds right) gets naked after talking to Tron (we assume) on the phone all sultry-like. Nathan is talking on TV (he's head of Homeland Security now) as she gets tagged and bagged by some black-clothed solider guys. Ali Larter getting naked isn't really a bad thing, but it is pointless here... so we'll call it even.

Peter is a paramedic, which I'm not sure where that places him in the medical hierarchy compared to nurse. He wants to help people, but can't help everyone as his Iranian partner tells him. Oh, his partner is Iranian so he can subtly point out that Nathan talking about a "clear and present" danger (the hero-types) is a parallel to the real-world fear of people of Middle-East ancestry.

Peter gets in a cab, and of all the cabs in New York City, it happens to be Mohinder's. Well, it's good to know that in these trying economic times, a brilliant Indian geneticist who has worked for two shadow corporations, and has the knowledge of how to create superheroes can stil get a job as a taxi driver. It turns out everyone is staying under the radar since that whole super-soldier business a couple months back. Especially since they all know what Nathan's talking about (it isn't sex).

Oh, Peter was in the cab because Claire warned him that Nathan and his mom were going to "take down" Parkman... and him too, but she didn't really mention that even though she knew it. Peter decided to talk to his mom about it... because Peter still gets stupid when the plot requires it.

Yes, so far, Claire and Mohinder have been the smart ones.

Mohinder gets carjacked by the dude who took Tracy, and is told to drive up to a black SUV. He escapes with his super strength and general enhanced abilities (no spidery stuff though), and gets rescued by Noah... but not really.

Here's the part where my brain stops screaming. Noah's a "bad" guy again? Sweet. Ma Petrelli's still on the bad side, and Nathan leads them all. Common link? They all want to keep Claire safe and let her have a normal life. This will undoubtedly come into play.

Oh, and Claire was all worried that Sylar was still alive earlier. Nobody believes her, but she can "feel it". She was right.

The attempted takedown of Sylar was possibly the show's high point. He's so badass, they don't even know. Sylar is once again searching for answers, but he's not conflicted. His god-complex is in full effect, and he demands your respect bitches. Also, he's looking for his real family. The scene with him and the watchmaker was also great.

Parkman is upset Speedy is using her powers to be a courier. Parkman is a whiny bitch who is a mall cop. Mall cops are huge, just ask Paul Blartt. Parkman is also seeing the African guy... complete with head.

Why? Because Parkman's the prophet now. Yes, it's apparently not a normal power, but one that is bestowed upon someone. So the African dude got it after Mendes died? I mean, we know Peter, Sylar, and Arthur all had it too, but that was part of their thing. Just as Parkman figures this out, Claire shows up and he gets tasered.

Then there's the Hiro storyline. The ONLY way to telegraph this more would be to put up captions that said "in 2 minutes, this is going to happen." We get it, they don't know Ando has powers, and they also don't know Hiro doesn't. Good thing Hiro tagged both Ando AND himself with GPS tags! Also good that Hiro gave Ando the most obvious clue in the world to the password to track him. Of course Hiro gets kidnapped and Ando doesn't. What a fucking second.. Hiro was in Japan! How the hell can Homeland Security take down someone in the middle of fucking Tokyo?

Whatever... everyone gets herded into a plane, Claire stows away (because Nathan let her go and she's too bad ass and cares too much to let that shit fly).

Now here's where they take a left turn. Peter's ability has been adjusted. Now, to get the powers of someone else, he has to TOUCH them. No more just absorbing through induction. Luckily, he was seated next to Mohinder and they could pinky-swear or something. He breaks free, then accidentally touches Tracy, which causes him great surprise when he freezes a hole into the plane wall! People start getting sucked out, including some random powered person whose face we don't see, so therefore they aren't important. Peter looks very scared about getting sucked out, even though he can fly. Mohinder grabs him just as he's about to be sucked out of the plane

Or can he? Maybe his powers have changed so that not only does he have to have physical contact, but that he can only have one ability at a time. Who knows? The writers are morons and will either not explain this or forget about it.

Meanwhile, Claire goes to the cockpit to tell them to land, but daddy Noah is the co-pilot (suprisingly, not Jesus), and he's surprised to see Claire. Then the plane crashes.

Next week - the Heroes learn about teamwork. Gag.

Okay, despite the sarcasm, I didn't mind this episode. A reboot was needed. Sylar as a bad-ass is the only way Sylar should be. Mohinder as not evil is better, since he was shitty bad guy. If they can keep Mohinder and Claire from being morons, then there may be hope for them. If they can stop people from getting temporary stupiditis, there's hope. If they make Hiro a liability since he has no powers, that could be cool, especially if they somehow need Ando and his help comes with the condition of Hiro staying around (Ando is still free, but tracking Hiro). Where's Speedy? She'll show up I'm sure. Kinda weak how they decided we still need a prophet to draw the future.

I would have LOVED for the plan crash to be fatal to 90% of the characters. I'd be happy with Noah and Sylar being the only major holdovers, everyone else is disposable. That's not going to happen though, but maybe having the heroes as fugitives, and all together finally could be good. The episode was fairly straightforward, had some strong performances, and was generally likeable. I'll give them some leeway on character changes and new directions for the sake of saving the show.

Where the hell did you come from Monday? It was Friday, like, 2 minutes ago. No fucking way you're already here Monday. WHAT DID YOU DO WITH SATURDAY AND SUNDAY? Oh... right.

Friday - Beer and Robbie Burns and Haggis and Bagpipes and Scotch
Saturday - Venture Bros and Bourbon Sour and Jambalaya and Hangin' out
Sunday - Pants? I don't need no steenking pants! Who needs pants to win a few satellites to the Sunday 750k just for the T$? Oh, and Fajitas and Crème Brûlée ice cream (stage 1).

So, good weekend. Just too fast.

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BSG - Talk about trying to cram as much as they can in 10 episodes. This whole Gaeta thing isn't ringing true. I think the webisodes are key to understanding where this is coming from and where it's going to. Here's hoping the political plot gets resolved quickly or shoved to the background. I'm really quite curious how the whole thing is going to wrap up. Maybe everyone is a Cylon, and they'll all join hands and sing while a rainbow arcs overhead.

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Heroes is back next week with President Worf. So Nathan is now going to round up all the people with powers. Super. If they introduce a Jewish character to smack us over the head with how it's just like Nazi Germany, I might throw up a bit in my mouth. Unless they name him Magneto... then I'll hurl heavy objects at my TV. I mean, they have two Japanese characters on the show (even if only one has powers), so the parallel to WWII Japanese internment camps should be easy enough to draw.

But it does recall the online comic from season 1 or 2, where future Peter rescues Nikki from superhero prisons, that are staffed by people with powers to hold people with powers or something. You know, government-sanctioned Heroes in special forces units vs normal people who don't want to be Government lackeys.

Yah, let's see if they can keep the second half of the season straight. I'll leave most of the vivisection to Goat.

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Superbowl - Man, did I miss on my picks. Steelers vs Cardinals? Whatever. I'll pick the Steelers now, just because Roethlisberger is a fun name to say.

Let's see... Roethlisberger has 14 letters. Warner has 6. That's a difference of 8. So let's say Steelers by 8, in the lamest Superbowl of all-time. Unless I drink too much, in which case it will be the most awesomest Superbowl evah!

So Amazon.com had the complete series box set of The Wire on sale yesterday. Being me, I decided to pick it up sight unseen.

Is it any good?

I kid! Everyone and their sister tells me it's the greatest thing on TV since porn. Expect me to loathe it and post an episode-by-episode recap of why it sucks balls.

Or not.

What the fuck is this Bromance shit? It's being advertised non-stop on whatever channel I have in the background (I think it's an MTV show, but since CTV owns MTV and everything else in Canada now, the ad is on every fucking channel). Brody Jenner (just discovered he even existed, shows how much I'm into reality TV) is looking for a new best friend to have a "bromance" with?

Why not just call it Gay Bachelor and end it there? At least Gay Bachelor would be mildly progressive instead of frat boys trying to pretend that competing to be friends with some never-was guy who's entire raison d'être seems to be filling in time in bad television shows is anything BUT homoerotic. How many times will the phrase "dude, this is totally NOT gay" be said?

Seriously? BROMANCE? WTF? And people thought I was gay.

Out 224th in the Stars blogger game yesterday... which started at 7pm for some reason instead of 5.

I'll say this - the play was better than I expected, but still pretty craptacular. I made at least one bad laydown, and possibly two, that cost me chips when I should have been committed. Weak poker on my part for sure. Of course, my starting table had CK 3 seats to my left, but I was moved about 3 or 4 times while the game went on.

I think I'll do some Christmas shopping tonight, especially since the Omaha Hi/Lo game that is tonight's event doesn't start until 10pm. I have no idea what to get my friends, so this might necessitate some mall shopping. Ugh.

Heroes. I haven't talked much about it here, but it HAS improved over the last while. Of course, this chapter ended this week, and doesn't return until February 2nd. Goat gives this week's episode a "meh-plus", and I agree.

Things that bug me - Nathan is written terribly. Peter has been proven right time and again and has SEEN THE FUCKING FUTURE about what Nathan's plan brings, but big brother refuses to listen. He found God at one point, but now is evilish? Hero concentration camps? Could we steal more directly from X-Men please? Maybe Adrian Pasdar just doesn't have the acting chops to pull this off convincingly, but I blame bad writing more.

Peter gets his powers back! I'll assume he's starting from scratch though, so he should be able to fly and make blue flames come from his hands, and maybe have Mohinder's strength too. Do they keep him from Claire? Or does he even have the power-absorbing ability?

Ando has powers, Hiro doesn't. I wonder if Ando's turbocharging ability can revive stolen powers? Maybe Arthur doesn't really take them so much as suppress them. Sadly, the writer's understanding of Einsteining physics is... a touch flawed, and a very weak plot point for rescuing Hiro.

Nice to see future painting Africa guy is still alive and non-decapitated.

Is Sylar really, truly dead this time? Please? I love Sylar, but if you're going to kill him, leave him that way.

Why couldn't Claire saved her mom? It's not like she hasn't been horribly burned before... she walked into a nuclear explosion once! I'll also assume bio-mom died from a building falling on her instead of the fire she's immune to.

And Hiro's destruction of the formula comes waaaaay too late. Mohinder's stil alive and no doubt knows the formula inside and out. Missing the catalyst is an issue, but knowing that it exists just means he has to rediscover it. I'm sure Tracy will do all she can ot facilitate that. I wonder if Bruce Boxleitner will be back.

President Worf! Awesome. Too bade Nathan's new plan is totally lame and will make the next chapter Heroes Prison Break or Heroes Fugitive or something. I wonder if they cast Michael Dorn after Obama won? Would it have been an old white guy if McCain did? Turnaround on a TV episode, especially a single scene in a limo, can be very quick. Anyway, that gives as a Dr. Who, Sulu, Worf, Captain Sheridan (Babylon 5), Malcolm (Enterprise), and Uhura so far from the Sci-Fi pantheon doing guest shots. At least they know their audience... now let's try and get Mr. Wheaton in there for some Blogger love.

A month and a half off, and then it competes with Battlestar Galactica. Man, if you think Heroes looks bad now, wait until you have a direct comparison with BSG's new and final episodes going.

20 minutes until the VP debate!
20 minutes until the English Canadian Leadership debate!

Oh which to watch!

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Re: Kentucky. I figured out what's bugging me most about it (and there's so much to choose from):

"Kentucky allows gambling at horse tracks and bingo halls and operates a state-run lottery. Blocking gambling Web sites, Beshear said, will protect those operations from online competition."

Once again, the attitude of "the free market is great... as long as it works for me" comes to the fore. Pathetic, really, really pathetic. But then, it's Kentucky, and who gives a shit about Kentucky other than during the Derby and when eating fried chicken?

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I'm watching "Hole in the Wall"... there's a host that despises his contestants. It's kinda awesome in a totally stupid, trashy, talentless way. Put people in skin-tight silver outfits, make them contort, and get them wet if they fail... good formula.

Of course, it helps that most of them would find chewing gum a mental challenge, and can't think 3-dimensionally or outside the box.

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Oh, and poker is back to sucking. Actually, poker is fine, I'm just sucking at it.