Torchwood, Hotel Babylon, Jekyll, Prison Break, K-Ville, Bionic Woman, Chuck
Quick overview of newish TV. Keep up with me now…
* ??Torchwood??, ??Doctor Who?? anagram/spinoff, featuring everyones favorite omnisexual dude who isn’t Freddy Mercury. Verdict: Good in pretty much the same way as ??Doctor Who??, but with a different kind of manic energy.
* ??Hotel Babylon?? — not nearly as stupid (or sex-filled) as it BBC America makes it sound in the commercials. The writing and acting are both a little hit and miss, but when they hit, they really hit.
* ??Jekyll?? — I said it before, but seriously, if you have access to this thing, watch it. Some of the best sci fi to hit television in years.
* ??Prison Break?? — You can really, really feel the season transition, and a lot of things feel forced. That said, I’m not going to turn down an opportunity to watch William Fichtner break a man’s neck.
* ??K-Ville?? — It’s mostly just my low initial expectations, I’m sure, but I was shocked at how much I enjoyed this. It’s a little rough around the edges (they cover at least three episodes worth of material in the pilot, for example, and it makes you feel like you’ve been fast-forwarding), but it’s got a solid premise, a good setting, and interesting values; the acting and writing are at least good enough to not make me spend the entire time thinking how bad they are.
* ??Bionic Woman?? — It’s not a BSG-grade reboot of an old series, but I can tick off some good reasons to pay attention: the hot nurse from Jekyll (seriously, watch Jekyll. I mean it.), Starbuck, Miguell Ferrer, Mark Sheppard (Badger on ??Firefly?? also excellent on ??Medium??, among other things). Writing isn’t all there yet, but I can be hopeful.
* ??Chuck?? — It’s like the dumbest parts of ??Jake 2.0??, the least original parts of ??The Office??, and the sort of stuff that’s probably left on the floor of the ??Scrubs?? writing room. By which I mean, of course I’ll watch it. Note: contains GiftShopGirl/Madison from ??Everwood??. Oh, and Adam freakin’ Baldwin. (Jayne.)