OK. Here are a few more new series reviews. Also, I realized I was somewhat incorrect in my assertion that there at 18 hours of primetime network TV on every night, when in fact there are only 15. Fox, WB and UPN each only have 2 hours of programming.
NBC
My Name Is Earl
(Tuesday at 9:00 before The Office)
My Name Is Earl stars Jason Lee (Mallrats, Chasing Amy) as Earl, a white-trash loser with an unfaithful wife (Jaime Pressley), and a drunk of a brother (Ethan Suplee; Mallrats). Earl wins a $100,000 Lotto scratch-off and in the process of celebrating gets hit by a car. In a morphine-induced haze at the hospital, he takes note of Carson Daly talking about Karma and has an epiphany of sorts. This you might have all gotten from the promos, but what doesn’t come through is how likable a loser Earl is. As awful a person as he is, you get the feeling he means well. So, Earl begins to make up for all the bad things he’s done, and we’re along for the ride. The characters are quirky, but believable, the dialogue is witty and the voiceover never gets in the way or annoying. I, of course, have liked Jason Lee since Mallrats, but here he seems to have room to really stretch out and just go for it. Jaime Pressley is great as the stereotypical W-T gum-snapping, hot-pant-wearing, super-big-haired, cheating, ex-wife. Very funny.
Recommended.
A
ABC
Invasion
(Wednesday at 10:00 after Lost)
Here’s how it breaks down. There’s a hurricane coming and everyone is getting ready for it, including Blah (Russell), a park ranger in the Everglades, his kids, Rose and Blah-Jr.(Jesse). Blah’s new wife, Larkin (huh?) is a TV reporter and also pregnant. Her brother, Dave (Tyler Labine) is a conspiracy theorist, and irresponsible. Blah’s ex-wife, Mariel is a control-freak doctor and married to the town’s sheriff, Sheriff (Tom) Underlay (William Fichtner; Go, Black Hawk Down). Sheriff Tom, also has a daughter, Kira. This hurricane wreaks havoc in the town, and somehow Mariel ends up lost and is found naked in the swamp, alive but somehow different. Sheriff Tom puts the town under quarantine for no particular reason. Rose, who ran off to look for the McGuffin, I mean, her cat, saw lights in the sky land in the water when the hurricane was happening all around her and she tells this to Dave, who has to investigate as all conspiracy nuts must. He finds something mysterious, and things just get more mysterious. Unfortunately, these must be the dumbest aliens ever, as even a 5-year-old, Rose, can tell that something’s amiss. Good thing for the aliens that the townspeople are even dumber than a 5-year-old. It’s all very Pod-people-y. I don’t think I’ll watch it regularly.
D
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3 comments:
Those aliens are probably still more intelligent than the aliens in War of the Worlds. They planned their invasion for millions of years and then caught colds and died. I mean, they didn't even get food poisoning, brain clouds, or leprosy. Or maybe they did. Who cares?
HEHE. I liked the Invasion review. She goes chasing after the MacGuffin.
I really like "Earl" and I think I am going to give "Invasion" a few more hours of my life. Mainly because it is on after "Lost" and by that time in the evening I am being crushed by my dog and can't move to change the channel anyway.
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