No Life on ‘Mars’
After months of speculation about the future of TV’s favorite snarky college-age sleuth, the CW network finally dropped the axe on Veronica Mars today when it announced its fall schedule. My love for Veronica is well documented, here and elsewhere, and so its cancellation delivers a palpable blow to my Tuesday-night television habits. Series creator Rob Thomas is contracted through the end of June, and rumors abound that he and series star Kristen Bell (pictured, so cute) could start a new show together, possibly within the Mars continuity. At this point, though, I would rather the series just die than continue to tease me with unfulfilled promises of renewal. After the jump, more news on my favorite TV shows.
Leave the Lights On
I’ve come to the realization that I’m probably the only person who has a relationship with this site who watches Friday Night Lights. At some point during this television season, people got pulled away by their American Idols and 30 Rocks and decided it was either better to watch a different show on Wednesdays at 8 or not watch anything in that slot. But I still feel compelled to write about the show, because, like my oft-lauded Studio 60, I feel that Lights hasn’t gotten a fair shake, and that its slow growth trend may send it scurrying off the air.
There has never been a show that, week after week, has left me saying “God damn, that show is fantastic” the way Lights does. Maybe if I had watched The West Wing on TV instead of DVD, I’d have had that experience in my life, but Lights is the first show over which I can recall being blown away each week (Note: The Office does this most weeks). This show is a class in advanced television. The actors are brilliant, the camerawork is inspired, and the writing is smart. At this point, I’d rather save Friday Night Lights than Studio 60. Will this obligatory hot girl picture (She’s the coach’s daughter! She dates the socially awkward quarterback! It’s so CUTE!) make you watch the show? Pretty please?
Spoiler Alert
The best moment of the entire LOST season so far: as Locke makes the submarine explode, Kelly Anne, with perfect comic timing, shouts “you sunk my battleship!”
…and that pretty much sums up how I feel about LOST this season. The jokes we make while watching the show are more exciting than the show itself. The last few episodes have been okay, but haven’t made up for the Jack tattoo episode and Hurley’s love letter to Little Miss Sunshine.
There Are Literally Not Enough Jokes
I’m extraordinarily late in reporting this news – I first heard about it before the new year – but I got an email from reader Tom G. today that reminded me and made me chuckle all over again:
Dave Matthews will be playing the patient in tonight’s episode of House.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a big fan of House and used to be a big fan of Dave Matthews, so it would make sense that I report the guest spot as soon as I found out about it. But, honestly, I was too overcome with jokes to focus on one. “Does Dave play a patient so riddled with drugs that he mumbles everything he says?” “Will this episode feature a 17-minute jam session?” And so on. Dave plays a mentally challenged musical savant, which isn’t too far off from the truth. Let’s just hope that House has enough Vicodin to put up with listening to selected tracks from Stand Up.
Tonight’s episode will certainly be worth checking out. And once you’re done that, go get the first two seasons on DVD, and be amazed at the wonder that is Hugh Laurie’s American accent.
‘Strip’ Down?
Yes, I know that NBC committed to running a whole season, and yes, I still am a shameless promoter of the show and all things Sorkin, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the folks over at Throwing Things are right and we’ve seen the last of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Ratings have steadily declined over the past several weeks, and even the staunchest supporters of the show have grown weary of the fact that this show could be summed up as “Hey, did you know Aaron Sorkin dated Kristin Chenoweth and that it didn’t go well?” On a wider scale, the general public has had a difficult time being berated for any number of things, from watching reality television to being Republican.
That said, there have been plenty of fantastic moments over the short run of Studio 60, last night’s comedy-rich episode among them. My personal favorite remains the Christmas episode, which laid low on preaching and focused on characters. Comments are welcome; let’s just hope this isn’t an Irish wake for a fabulous show. Then again, there’s always a second life on DVD. Think Sorkin’ll produce a few straight-to-video seasons if NBC cancels it and we ask nicely?