I've been meaning to bang out a few comments about what we're watching this year. We've been careful about adding anything new, because as it is we're several weeks behind.
Fringe is the big new show this year, and it's awesome. Anna Torv, the lead, essentially a nobody from Australia before this role, totally makes my laminated list. The show launched from the first episode with a mythology, laying it out there quickly. That's a departure from the other big J.J. Abrams shows like Alias and Lost. There's some big, intense and horrifying conspiracy going on, and they wasted no time establishing it. It's pretty easy to pick up, so if you haven't watched it yet, it's not too late.
Eli Stone is back, and the writing is more intense than ever. There is just slightly more happiness than pain in the show, which is why I think it works. The themes that I love, looking for purpose and meaning in life, are pretty thick, and without thinly veiled metaphors.
House has become really interesting again as they get far deeper into character development again, something they mostly ignored last season since they blew off two of the credited leads. I think killing off Wilson's girlfriend last season gave it a great dark twist that it needed.
Boston Legal is in its last season. Despite the Emmy's, the ratings still aren't that great, apparently. I love the show, though the cast has shrunk down considerably, and it's clearly about Shatner and Spader's characters now. It's still well written, and Shatner is giving some of his best performances. It's also very political, which you'd think would generate more buzz.
The Sarah Connor Chronicles isn't bad, but it's not a show I think people would cry over if it got canned. Shirley Manson from Garbage is one of those liquid terminators, but I'm not fond of her as an actress (though playing a robot doesn't exactly give you a lot of potential). The plot line is interesting enough, but how many people and robots are going to get sent back? They've almost got too much freedom in some respect, because all of the time traveling means that Judgment Day has three different dates (set by the first movie, then the third, now the TV show, and God only knows what's up for the next movie).
I'm also watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network and loving it. Continuity is something carefully controlled by LucasFilm (see here), so this show fits in nicely between Episodes II and III. Truth be told, it might even be better than those two movies!
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