Week in Review

This is the first in a new weekly installment I'll be doing every Sunday, where I recap what you need to know about the past week in television. I'll delve into the things I felt were interesting or that you might need to know.
Why am i doing this? Basically because EW does something like this and I liked the idea. Besides that, though, it is as pointless as everything else I read.
Anyway, if you haven't stopped reading already, enjoy...
1. On The PACIFIC, Steven Spielberg got to use left over stock footage from SAVING PRIVATE RYAN for another island invasion scene.
2. For some reason Donald Trump loves Cyndi Lauper and Sharon Osbourne, since he refused to fire them, even though the latter missed the entire challenge and the former missed 80% of it. The same treatment was denied to Michael Johnson, who asked for a leave of absence, but was told that leave would have to be permanent since he'd miss a task. This double standard was infuriating, especially since Sharon is useless and will be fired the next time her team loses.
3. There was no CHUCK. I mean what the heck. No Chuck? What the F*$%?
4. On V we got an introduction to John May (Michael Trucco) via a flashback. It was exciting to see Trucco back on television in a character eerily similar to his Battlestar Galactica role. The only problem was that he was summarily killed off during the flashback...
5. I don't know why I'm watching FLASHFORWARD anymore. I've seen the future, and it won't be on in the fall.
6. Jamie Oliver asked the high school kids to try his food ... and they did!!! Unfortunately, the elementary school still offered flavored milks and all the kids died.
7. SNL was totally underrated. It was a character-centric show with limited stories, but they were still giggle worthy. My favorite was Andy Sandberg as an accountant for celebrities. It show cased the cast's ability to mimic tons of stars. COPY AND PASTE the link.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/143265/saturday-night-live-celebrity-taxes-mort-feingold

Ok, so that was the first week in review segment. Any thoughts? SHould it be longer or shorter? Should it try to be somewhat relevant or cohesive?

Welcome to the beginning of the end for V

The original version of V was a miniseries. It gave us the interesting dynamic we're presented with in the current version, and conveniently wrapped it all up in short order. Unfortunately the latest version doesn't enjoy the same format, and as a result it needs to become a large sprawling serialized drama.
You know what doesn't work, with one exception? Expansive shows with the scope of LOST on network television, except for LOST. So Sorry V, but this show just doesn't work. As a result its future is in jeopardy, with its second season seeming doubtful at this point.
So why is V a failure? Let's deal jut with the most recent episode, titled "Welcome to the War," and examine its shortcomings.
Last night's episode represented a jump starting of the show in the wake of an extended layoff after the first four episodes. That first volume ended with a nice enough climax, and it set the stage for a more developed show. WELCOME to the WAR tries to build on that momentum by establishing the groundwork for a showdown between the Visitors and The Resistance.
The failure stems from the fact that what I'm watching is about as interesting as watching a bad chess game. We're seeing pieces get moved around, but ultimately I care as much as if I was just watching pawns.
I hate to compare the show to LOST, but that's what it is emulating in terms of the narrative, so that's what it will get. On LOST you are presented with conniving and complicated villains to go up against inventive and courageous heroes. This rapport is quite captivating, as it keeps us on our toes. Additionally, the characters are three dimensional and it provide actual meaning.
Now let's examine how V has failed to capture that same magic with the Priest character. He is overtly complicated, but ultimately just a caricature of something we might find on LOST. The real shame, though, is that Joel Gretsch is a good actor and is wasted in this role.
Speaking of wasted actors, let's address the biggest travesty, which is the utilization of Elizabeth Mitchell. Her Jack Bauer impersonation has been wearing on me since the Visitors arrived. I love Mitchell from her time as Juliet. In that role she created one of the most mischievous, beloved and quixotic character in recent memories, but now she's been relegated to playing two stereotypical roles: The renegade cop and the mom trying to get her kid back. Why didn't they just break it into two parts and let Keifer Sutherland play one and Charlize Theron take over the other?
Her kid on the show is also one of the most annoying characters in television history, and at this point is beyond redemption.
Anyway, the only mildly interesting characters are played by Morris Chestnut and Scott Wolf. Chestnut does a great job portraying the conflicted soul, who has a foot in each camp and simply wants to live his life in peace with the woman he loves. Contained in that desire is the capacity to utilize his alien skills and go kill people like it's his job. He is tough, sensitive and the only hero i would turn to.
As for Wolf, his character's back story is pretty ridiculous, but he does seem to have all the brain power on the show. He understands the game, and can actually play it without revealing all his cards. Not sold on him yet, as he is still a little too smitten with Anna.
Speaking of Anna, she is such a bore. What a ho-hum villain. Oh no, she eats the head up the guy who fertilized her eggs. Seen it on Buffy the Vampire slayer. Oh no, she's going to inject the humans. The Others have been injecting and poisoning people for years on LOST. Oh no, she's got a ruthless sidekick. Oh wait, he's not ruthless and he basically sucks.
In a show where the stakes are supposedly so large and i should actually care, i find myself generally apathetic about what's going on. Oh no, the Visitors are going to kill us! What else is knew? Maybe I'd care if we had some consequences. Right now I'm just seeing a buildup that isn't interesting, since all we have is the rising action. There's no character development or extraneous stories to follow. V can't go at this break neck pace if it wants to retain my interest, unless it decides to become a version of 24.
My advice to V would be slow down and give me a reason to care if these people die. Right now I basically hate all the humans and hope they die. I'm worried, though, that the show can't slow down at this point and is heading for a cliff it's doomed to dive into.
All of this contributes to make V almost unwatchable. What are your thoughts?

Flash Forward/V

I'm lumping these two shows together because combined they're almost a pretty good hour of television. They both have a compelling mythology, but the characters aren't great on either.
But, we can fix all that if we take the villains from FLASH FORWARD and combine them with our heroes from V. This makes logical sense since the heroes of FLASH FORWARD (Harold and the Drunk) suck and the villains from V (Anna) are corny. There is a chance the V villains could redeem themselves, but i'm doubtful, as the sleeper FBI agent has been officially killed. Alan Tudyk (I think that's the actors name), seemed poised to generate some real intrigue until he was taken off line.
There is good on both of these shows, and it's the parts i mentioned before. Charlie from Lost (I'll be calling him Charlie from now on) has cemented himself as the best character on FLASH FORWARD. He plays a villain with wit, layers and a ruthlessness akin to Ben on LOST. He may not be the top guy in the shadowy legion of bad guys responsible for the blackout, but he is definitely important. I watch the show solely for his appearances, which made the last episode particularly painful since he was M.I.A.
FLASH FORWARD also offers the prospects of heretofore unseen villains, which we were given a taste of recently. You don't need to see the future to know this will be good.
As for V, I'm totally into Juliet (no idea what her name is on this show, but it's Elizabeth Mitchell in real life) as the FBI agent who is secretly leading an uprising against the Vs. In addition there is Morris Chestnut (that's his real name), who plays a rebelling V. These rebelling Vs appear to be wide spread and call themselves the Fifth Column. I LOVE IT!!!
All of our heroes on V, Juliet, Morris and the Priest are surrounded by an enemy they can't see, which makes them be very creative and leads to rewarding stories.
When they combine these two shows I hope they do away with two love stories. On FLASH FORWARD it's the annoying Doc who was going to kill himself until he knew there was something to love for. On V it is Juliet's son and a V, who is Anna's daughter. That's supposed to mean something to us because Anna is the leader of the Vs and Juliet will be the leader of a resistance that hasn't fully developed, but I don't care. I don't care because the young love birds are awful. The story is boring and halts the action.
So there are my ideas for FLASH V so far. It could probably use some Cylons too.

Saturday is V-Day

The new show V airs on Tuesday nights, but since I don't usually watch television on a television I catch it on Hulu when it debuts, which is Thursday.
Anyway, I'm halfway through the episode and I don't have an opinion on the show yet. There are parts I like, Elizabeth Mitchell as the take no prisoners FBI agent, and things I hate, Mitchell's son.
But like LOST, I think the mythology of the show might hook me enough to overcome character shortcomings.
Oh, and a familiar face from BSG popped up.