Despondent

I’m not surprised, but I’m so sad that NBC canceled Life. I actually haven’t been able to watch the finale, because then that would make it really over for me. I really enjoyed the partnership of Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi, and wish them all the best personally and professionally.

Damn you, NBC.

If those bastards cancel Chuck, heads will roll.

I knew all that tv watching would eventually pay off

I asked Alan Sepinwall, tv critic for the Newark Star-Ledger and blogger, a question for his mailbag column, and he answered it for me! Maybe he answered my question first because it was the best (yay!), the worst (boo!), or possibly because I am from the state the paper is based in. Whatever, I found out what I wanted to know. It’s nice to be the one asking questions, for a change.

Two peas in a peacock-shaped pod

This is not the first time that I mentioned Chuck and Life in the same post. On the surface, though, Chuck Bartowski and Charlie Crews couldn’t be more different. Chuck is a 20-something wasting his life at a Geek Squad/Best Buy clone (I can’t believe that BB didn’t think of the name Nerd Herd first) and providing the US government with information that has been encoded into his brain. Charlie is a Los Angeles Police Department detective who was imprisoned for 12 years after being unjustly convicted of the murder of a friend, a fellow police officer, and that man’s wife and son. So how are these two men similar?

• They’re both on NBC, and the future of both shows are unclear. Chuck probably is in a less precarious position, but could still conceivably be ended after this season.
• They’re both named Charles. The fact that they both go by comparatively juvenile nicknames is not an accident.
• Both men had their lives derailed by false accusations; Chuck was kicked out of Stanford for cheating and Charlie spent a long long time in prison.
• They’re (mostly) kept in check by women who are better at focusing on the big picture and playing straightmen (as it were) the the guys’ sometimes excessively youthful behavior.
• Their lives are being manipulated by governmental forces that they don’t understand and can’t really control.
• They’re both in love with women who, for whatever reason, they cannot be with. Chuck’s in love with Sarah, his FBI handler, and Charlie is in love with his ex-wife, who divorced him while he was in prison. Awkward.
• They both accidentally shot people in the leg this year. Chuck shot the guy who made the Intersect that’s in his head (…maybe), and Charlie shot his dad. Well, the dad did refuse to identify himself when Charlie called out in the dark. Bygones?
• They both keep awesomely detailed charts of the players in their particular dramas. Chuck keeps his on the back of his Tron poster (loved that detail), and Charlie has a “secret” room in his house where he keeps his. That room has been broken into so many times at this point that I wish Charlie would use the walls to keep his grocery list or something.

Of course, the two men aren’t twins or anything. Charlie has a distant father and a dead mother, whereas Chuck as a sweet, well-meaning, but ultimately clueless older sister who loves him. Charlie’s friends all turned their backs on him when he was convicted of murder, while Chuck’s friends all stuck by him after his expulsion. Charlie’s stint as a guest of the state netted him millions of dollars, while Chuck is super poor and still lives with his sister and her awesome fiance. Chuck is a total baby about pain and Charlie got shot a while back. Charlie can hardly figure out how to use his cell phone, and Chuck is pretty much a tech genius. Lastly, the music on Life is out of this world good, and Chuck’s scoring is okay, but nowhere near as brilliant.

The other thing that these two shows have in common is how much I love them. These are the only two shows that I came into the season liking that I actually like better now. I really hope that both of them are renewed for season three, because I feel like they’re really starting to hit their strides.

I’m bummed that I won’t see Chuck again for two more weeks, but the previews look really exciting and I cannot wait!

NBC is rocking my world right now

AAH! This week’s Chuck and Life were so excellent, I almost cannot even stand it. I’ve loved Life all along, and so I was surprised when I recently realized that I may actually prefer Chuck to it right now. Of course, that’s like saying I can’t decide between filet mignon and broiled lobster, and really, the one that I choose at any given moment has more to do with my mood than with the object’s innate awesomeness.

I’m really happy that NBC is giving these fine shows a chance, and hopes that it will continue to do so. How good have these programs been lately? TOO GOOD. They have great drama, interesting situations, humor, and not a little moral ambiguity. They don’t tell the audience what to feel, and seem to think that we’ll be smart enough on our own to come to our own decisions (Do you hear that, Heroes??), which I greatly appreciate. I think that maybe in terms of acting chops, Damian Lewis and Yvonne Strahovsky have an advantage over their counterparts (Zachary Levi and Sarah Shahi), but again, when things are this good, quantification isn’t necessary.

I’m just worried about how I am going to be expected to last until freaking February. These shows are really really really really good, and I am going to miss them so much.

Some good news!

I was worried about Life’s prospects when I heard that NBC had canceled My Own Worst Enemy and Lipstick Jungle, but apparently I wasn’t paying enough attention to the news coming down the wire. Before axing those two shows, NBC had already given Life a full-season order. Awesom! Let’s hope the show can do well enough in its timeslot to come back for a third season! I love Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi to bits, and want their show to succeed!

I’m enjoying a lot of things this season, but many of the things I don’t like all fall into one category: romance. I don’t know if this show just doesn’t need it at all, or if I just think all its attempts up until now have been pretty unconvincing. I don’t believe that Charlie should have anything to do with Jennifer, his ex-wife. At the very least, she is just one more person who wasn’t there for him when he needed her. Also, I kind of suspect her of being evil and somehow related to what happened to Charlie (although she did warn him when that teacher posed as a reporter and asked her questions about Charlie). Anyhow, just going on what we know up until this point, I do not think it’s realistic to believe that Charlie’s remarried ex-wife has his best interest at heart, or that anything between the two of them is going to end well.

Also, I think that Reese should stay 100 feet away from Tidwell at all times. 1) The man looks like he does not bathe (Dear Donal Logue: please make your character less vile); 2) He is her boss and that cannot be a good idea; 3) He is ridiculous (the tics, the rudeness, the stunning callousness); 4) Sarah Shahi is as hot as the fire of a thousand suns, and should be with a similarly awesome guy (what’s Bradley Cooper doing these days? A little Alias reunion would be sweet).

Finally, what the hell is going on with Ted and Olivia, Charlie’s dad’s fiancée? I will admit that Christina Hendricks and her impressive bosom are pretty sweet, but what is this storyline all about? We know nothing about Charlie’s dad, and haven’t even met him yet, but we’ve seen said missing father’s intended how many times now? Okay, so Charlie is avoiding her. But wouldn’t that make her even less likely to come around? You can’t change the mind of somebody you can’t pin down. But then what’s the story with Ted? I guess a romance between these two is not entirely implausible, seeing as she obviously has a thing for old dudes, but because I don’t understand Olivia, the whole thing seems suspect. I guess I can understand why Ted just come out with, “Hey Charlie, I kissed your dad’s fiancée during that earthquake,” but why would he have neglected to mention her presence at all? And lied about how the pencil got out of his hand. Was Ted always this bad at lying? Maybe that’s why he ended up in prison. Plus, even if I did finally understand and maybe support a Ted-Olivia, Christina Hendricks is kicking ass and taking names over at Mad Men, and how often could we really expect her to show up on Life?

The Axe has fallen

Poor Elizabeth Reaser. I hated Jane Doe/Ava/Rebecca, her character on Grey’s Anatomy, but never had a problem with her as an actress. I watched her new show, The Ex-List, since it premiered. I thought it was worth watching, even though Bella, her character did some boneheaded things and didn’t always make smart decisions. I was interested in most of the characters (except for Cyrus, who seemed superfluous), and wanted to see where things were headed. Even though I wondered how long the conceit of Bella always dating a guy from her past could be maintained (and what would happen if the show lasted longer than a year), I was willing not to let my skepticism ruin the experience. So too bad CBS canceled The Ex-List already. The show didn’t even last a month. Boo!

In other tv news, Life, one of the shows that I most enjoy, has (maybe) been given a new lease on…life. Sorry. It’s been moved out of the Friday night ghetto, into a prime Wednesday night time spot. Of course, this means that the show will actually have to earn better ratings, but I hope that the change in night will draw in viewers. Damian Lewis and Sarah Shahi are amazing in their roles, and even though I loathe the part that Donal Logue is playing (what purpose does Tidwell serve?), I always welcome the chance to watch him on tv.