K-Ville And Prison Break

the new tv season has begun and we will be looking at it all as it unfolds over the next few weeks. but for now we have gotten started with the season premier Prison Break and the seriese premier of K-Ville - both on fox on monday nights.

i have been a fan of Prison Break during its first two seasons and was looking forward to the new season, and the premier didn't disappoint.

michael scofield found himself in a panamanian prison at the end of last season and that is where he starts this one - along with some other recognizable characters. and as we find out by the end of the episode, he has been put there in order to help someone escape. SWEET!!!

Prison Break isn't known for its brilliant dialogue or depth of character. it is a cool, fun, exciting show that hooks you and doesn't let go and the season opener lived up to expectations. sure there are some generic characters in the prison and predictable story developments, but that is all moot. the show is fast and intense and i am looking forward to a good season.

as for K-Ville, i wasn't as impressed. the show has some action and such, but the detective/'mystery' part of the show was really not that interesting. what i liked was the characters and the dealing with a post-katrina new orleans and how the city is still so far from what it once was even these years later.

its easy for us to go about our lives and forget about it now that the telethons are over and it isn't in the news all the time, but the people that it effected are still dealing with the repercussions and will be for probably a lot longer.

pilots aren't always the best way to judge a show, so i will keep it on my tivo for now and see where it goes.

Prison Break
grade: B+

K-Ville
grade: B- (but could go up or down and will be adjusted after i check out a few more episodes)

NBC Fall Schedule Shuffle

two weeks ago on the podcast - episode #45 - we previewed nbc's fall lineup. well, it has just changed a little, with nbc announcing that Friday Night Lights will go to fridays at 9pm rather then 10pm and Las Vagas will move from 9pm to the 10pm slot.

also, the new show Chuck (which is the new nbc show i am most looking forward to) is moving from tuesday at 9pm to the monday at 8pm slot right before Heroes which is followed by another new show, Journeyman.

the move for Chucks now puts it up against: Prison Break on fox, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory on cbs and Dancing With The Stars on abc.

- on tuesday at 9pm it was up against: The Unit on cbs, House on Fox and Dancing With The Stars results show on abc

hmmmmm? so what so we think of this move? obviously they are hoping that the lead-in to heroes will help them and attract a similar crowd. i don't know though. since the show looks to be a comedy/drama/spyish mix it is now going up against Prison Break which has the thrill/excitement genre down - and a great cliff hanger from last season. also, abc's Dancing With The Stars doesn't do it for me, but that show has been doing great ratings. and then you have the first half of cbs's comedy monday (at least its not going up against the high-rated Two And A A Half Men).

on tuesday night: sure House is big, but Chuck is a very different show from House so it would be counter-programming in a way. and also the results shows are always lower rated then the competition ones. however, they might also have felt that The Biggest Loser wasn't the right lead in for Chuck and that having it at 9pm wouldn't get enough people coming from other networks after their 8pm shows.

we shall see i guess, but like i said i think Chuck looks good. i am however a big Prison Break fan - thank god for tivo!!!!

Wanna Go For A Drive?

last night fox premiered the show Drive. the show, about an illegal cross-country road race has been in the works and re-works for over a year now and has finally made it to air. so what do we get for all that waiting and fixing and such? we get a corny, stereotypical, poorly written, fun and kind of exciting show - think of it as the movie Rat Race meets the tv show Fastlane with a Prsion Break mystery of unknown forces thrown in.

so ya, i kind of liked it, but in a guilty pleasure sort of way. some of the dialogue made me groan and the characters all felt like cookie cutter 'screen writing for dummies' creations, but i wanted to see what would happen next.

Now, i try not to judge a show based on the pilot episode because usually they get to wrapped up in giving us information and introducing characters and their characteristics and the episode tends to feel a little forced. as it is now though, i think it is, like i said, an medium range show that i will follow. However, if the poor ratings for last nights premier are any indication, it might be a short lived guilty pleasure. we shall see.

the premise is original at least (meaning it isn't about cops and doesn't take place in a hospital or law firm) and they did set up plenty of mystery and unknowns that will be revealed as the race goes along. all that being said, Drive doesn't yet appear to be more then that. they didn't take this actually could-be-exciting premise and turn it into something smart and really interesting like Lost (i am a little surprised given that one of the show's creators is tim minear, who was one of the guys behind the short lived, but excellent, show Wonderfalls that was on fox a few years back).

instead they created a guilty pleasure and didn't really go beyond that. is that a bad thing? not necessarily. it is what it is, and while it isn't as good as Prison Break or 24 (the two other monday night adrenaline rushes) so far it is a fun enough ride that has intrigued me enough to make me keep watching for now.

p.s. one of my biggest pet peeves in movies and tv is during driving scenes when the character driving is talking to the passenger and spends more time looking at the other person then actually watching the road. given that Drive spends most of its time in cars, that is something they really have to watch out for, cause there have been a few times where it was laughable.

grade: B-

Prison Break: Panama

Prison Break - Season One

i like it! Prison Break season 2 ends with scofield in a panamanian prison from which he will obviously have to escape from in season 3. also, with mahone in there and i think i saw bellick there as well. and don't forget his brother and girlfriend on the outside and the ever nefarious 'company' doing their thing (which we still aren't sure what their master plan is). that is some good stuff.

who will make it to Prison Break season 3?

so, does anyone have any predictions on who will make it to the next season of Prison Break besides burrows, scoffield and his women (those are the three obvious ones).

more so then who will make it to season three is what the hell will season three be about!?

i figure there are really only two main options right?
1) more running?
2) or if they are pardoned/acquitted/proved innocent/etc... then it can be them just living their life in the aftermath of all that happend and trying to lead a normal life

#2 sounds really boring, so i am going to go with #1 and see the show as a The Fugitive type show where he was always on the run from the law while hunting down the one-armed man.