November 2006 Archives

"Save the cheerleader, Save the world," was the resounding message preceeding last night's episode of Heroes.

But, in all honesty, I gotta admit that I felt the hype left me feeling let down. I can only walk away scratching my head and wondering if there was something more to the episode. My reasoning is quite simple. I expected a much more climactic ending when the cheerleader was to be saved. I expected that Hiro, as well as many of the others would be there using their combined powers. Certainly there are questions needing answers:

1. Will Peter go down for the murder of Claire's cheerleading nemesis?
2. Is DL out of the picture?
3. What's up with Hiro?
4. How will Claire coming clean with daddy change things?
5. Now that Mohinder has decided that he will continue his father's research, what's his next move?
6. What are they gonna do with Sylar?
7. Did the cheerleader actually get "saved"?

I'm sure there's more so feel free to add your's to the list. The next episode is supposed to turn the clock back a bit and reveal some of the reasons that these people have such extraordinary powers.

If you've ever seen Groundhog Day ( Bill Murray ) then you'll understand Daybreak.

However, there's a bit of a switch-up. This isn't about an egotistical, cynical, newscaster re-living the same day and chasing after the love of his life in an effort to end the vicious cycle. This is about a decorated, 12 year veteran cop framed for the murder of a D.A. forced to re-live the same day in an effort to stop a desperate chain of events as well as clear his name.

Detective Brett Hopper ( Taye Diggs ) is the cop who is framed despite his alibi - the ex-wife ( Moon Bloodgood as Rita Shelten ) of his former partner and Internal Affairs cop ( Adam Baldwin as Chad Shelten ). Movie and TV fans will recognize Adam Baldwin. He's been around for a while ( My Bodyguard, Independence Day, and a recurring role on X-Files ).

Clearing his name is no easy task. Hot on his trail is Det. Spivak ( Mitch Pileggi well known for his character on X-Files ) and Det. Choi ( Ian Anthony Dale who was on last year's dead series, Surface ). Not only must he clear his name, but in doing so he is driven to save his sister ( Meta Golding as Jennifer Mathis ), her son, and his girlfriend ( his alibi ) from a mysterious group of men that appear to be the bad guys.

Lastly, his current partner ( Victoria Pratt as Andrea Battle ), is under investigation for her shady dealings. It's anyone's guess if he can trust her to help him. While it's implied that he can, as a viewer I can only suspect that she may have ulterior motives. However, the central guy under suspicion on my list right now is Chad. Brett knows he has to fix the day somehow. He has to get it right. In one scene he even admits, "It's much bigger than I thought."

Will he get the day's events right? Is it somehow linked to the girl in the bus crash? This series is definitely going be on the top of my list. The cast is top notch and the storyline keeps the action moving at a great pace. I'll admit that I was a little disappointed with the fact that there was such a short fall season for Lost. But, I think that this series will more than make up for the long wait until Lost's next season.

After watching last night's episode of Heroes I can say, without hesitation, that my favorite Hero is Hiro.

It's probably a little too early to make judgements about all the character's on the show, but I have made a decision and I'm going to stick with it. If you wonder why, as I'm sure some people will, he's my favorite you'll be pleasantly surprised because I'm going to list a few of the reasons.

This morning I had an interesting email in my inbox.

According to BrilliantButCancelled, Six Degrees isn't doing very well. I noticed that it wasn't on last night opposite of Shark. Although I've said in the past that I do like Six Degrees, I haven't been watching it lately opting to record it and watch it at my convenience.

For the time being it is going to be pulled from Thursday nights and possibly return in January.

I've been listening to a couple radio talk shows that are trying to determine what it is that sealed the Democratic victory over the the House and ( potentially at this point ) the Senate.

Everyone seems to believe that it is the war in Iraq or the Abramoff/ Delay/ Foley scandals.

I decided to walk across the street today and get lunch at an Oriental restaurant. As I gobbled down my Korean spicy pork I listened as the hosts bickered back and forth and took calls from listeners. I couldn't help but want to laugh when people said, "Well we just needed change." Additionally, I couldn't help but shake my head when the host suggested that people, "just decided to vote entirely down the Democrat side of the ticket." in an absolutely disgusted tone of voice as if that was some sinful act deserving of no forgiveness.

I know I live in a red state, but it would be nice if the word, "Democrat" could be removed from the state list of four-letter-words.

Getting on to the purpose of this post . . . After I finished my main course I opened up my fortune cookie and set the fortune aside. I devoured the tasty little cookie and grabbed my glass of Code Red ( my favorite soft drink ) so that I could refill it. Since I needed ice I decided to take the fortune with me and read it on the way to the ice machine. I couldn't help but laugh when I read the fortune and recalled the events of the last 24 hours or so.

The fortune read, "Confucius say:show-off always shown up in showdown."

For me, this is why the Democrats control the House and ( quite possibly but not yet - as of the time I am writing this ) the Senate. It isn't the war in Iraq. It isn't the scandals. It isn't anything like that. It's everything. The talk show hosts are missing the forest for the trees. There is no one single item that brought about this change. It's the way things were done.

The last six years legislators and the executive branch have acted as if they had a free ticket to do whatever they wanted using whatever means they chose without fear of retribution. It is the war in Iraq ( or lack of reason for invading Iraq ). It is the way the scandals were handled. It is the way that legislators try to legislate morality. It is the Patriot Act and the fact that no one read it before they voted on it. It is the way the 911 commision was handled. It is the lack of oversight. It is the fact that there was no assistance for Katrina victims. It is record oil company profits and no alternative energy plans. It is turning people against each other on the basis of religion. It is the way that the executive branch can do things ( usually deemed illegal ) but get away with it anyway. It is the outing of a CIA agent. It is Social Security. It is NSA wiretapping. It is stem cell research. It is name calling and negative ads. It is taking away habeus corpus. It is using scare tactics. It is The Medicare Prescription Plan. It is illegal aliens and the lack of border control. It is eminent domain. It is the lack of representation of The People's interests and preference given to corporate interests. It is Halibuton. It is all of the money.

And when questions are asked about these things what happens? We aren't supposed to ask; We're supposed to worry about gay marriage. It is six years of the same old stuff.

In summary, it may have come down to a couple items of interest for individual voters. Perhaps some people are more interested in the war in Iraq or stem cell research. Regardless, the fact remains that a change has taken place. I believe the reasons are so wide and diverse that it effectively be termed, "The whole thing is a mess." Was it something special for you? Leave a comment and tell me.

Once again it is November and for the past ( to be honest ) I'm not sure how long, you, me, and every living creature has been subjected to political debate, radio ads, television ads, mailers, fliers and every other form of political campaigning.

I'm glad it will be coming to a stop. I've had it with the name calling, the deception, the spin, and the pre-adolescent behavior politicians display when they decide once again that they deserve to be given a free ride financed by tax dollars.

What really gets me is that by virtue of the fact that they know all the bad stuff about "the other guy" and are more than willing to let me know about it, they believe they deserve my vote. But, they don't really give me any good reasons to vote for them.

The worst part for me is when I have to tolerate the same commercial ( regardless of whether I am listening to the radio or watching TV ) over and over and over and over again during the course of one program. It's always worse the few days preceding the election. It seems there are no regular commercials - nope - nothing at all that I need to buy. I have instantly transcended from the marketeer's wet dream. I am no longer so insufficient and need the latest iPod/pharmaceutical/automobile/weight loss/hair regrowth/shampoo/body moisturizing/sexual satisfaction product.

It's been a while since my last post of any real substance.

Recently, as you may or may not know, I was looking into the shows that would make up the fall season. I kicked it off with my own review of Men in Trees. I admit, I wasn't able to review as many of the new ( or even existing ) series. If this was my day job perhaps that would have been possible. I thought I would give it a try and predict the shows that would last and the one's that wouldn't.

Well, things are turning out as I expected ( or at least kind of ).