tvthatdoesntsuck

REVIEW FOR

Life on Mars

Season One

Episode One

“Out Here in the Fields”

Written by Josh Appelbaum, Scott Rosenberg, and André Nemec

I usually avoid police procedurals at all costs, but I had to make an exception for this.  Dude gets knocked into the seventies while in the middle of an investigation?  At the very least, it could make for an interesting pilot.  I’m not sure how long they could play out an idea like that, but I knew I’d at least check the show out.

It was definitely a pleasant surprise.  The “case of the week” was above average, and the execution of Sam Tyler getting sent to the past was exceptional.  The show has a lot of promise, and even glimmers of greatness.  There’s a shot of the Twin Towers still standing that is really poignant and beautifully done, but the scene that sold this show to me was when Sam Tyler has a conversation with a child who, in his time, has grown up to become a murderer.  It was very, very well done.

Back to what I was saying before.  As good as this episode is, I don’t envy the writers.  Eventually, Sam is going to accept that he’s in the seventies… and when that inevitably happens, how do you keep the show from simply becoming a generic police procedural set in the seventies?  I’m interested to see how they’ll avoid that.  Looks like I’m in next week!

7/10

—————————-

REVIEW FOR

The Ex-List

Season One

Episode Two

“Climb Every Mountain Biker

Written by Diane Ruggiero

Still entertaining, still well-written, still well-acted.  Annnnnd still stuff that bothers me.  The episode itself was entertaining, and probably even as good as the last one.  There were a few flaws that I didn’t notice last week that I did find in this episode, as well as some improvments.  Let’s start with the titles.  Holy awkward.  The title sequence starts with a clip of the psychic, which makes it seem like the episode is going into a flashback.  Totally off-putting.  The frogs in the theme were really funny and quirky, and I almost thought the title sequence would be saved, until the fina cast picture looked like an awkward family beach picture photoshopped all the way to Hell.  I’m also not really liking Bella’s three friends that much at all, which sucks, as it seems like they’ll play a big role in the show.  I did, however, notice the successful effot to separate Daphne (Bella’s sister) from her friend Vivian.

There were some exceptional scenes, such as the Google Ex Smackdown, which was such a creative idea.  The dude-of-the-week plot was cool, featuring a former couch potato gone over-active.  The main attraction of the show is still Elizabeth Reaser acting her pants off, though Rachel Boston (Daphne) was nearly as impressive.  The writing is good, it’s just that the show itself needs some fine-tuning.  But I think it’s safe to say that I’m on board.

6/10

—————————-

NEXT TIME: True Blood 1×06 & Sanctuary 1×02

Trackback URI | Comments RSS