Friday Night TV

The cable's back, thank goodness. Highlight for spoilers:

• Las Vegas: So last week Dean Cain was crushed by a giant squid off camera. Way less interesting that Lara Flynn Boyle being blown off the roof, but Sam inherited the Montecito, and now she's drunk with power. Also, Mary's dad didn't go to jail, so she wants to shoot him. But presently, she's having some issues with crowds and being easily startled. And the "previously" mentioned that Shooter McGavin episode, so I thought he might be coming back, but I guess that was just because they happened to reference the kidnapping. Actually, for all I know, he may have come back. I missed a 15 minute chunk in the middle for a news interruption (a press conference about the bus wreck here this morning).
  
  And Delinda was eating a corn dog looking thing that she described as a corn burger with chili and cheese. That sounds freakin' delicious, in a heart attack causing sort of way.



• Monk: Yet another non-mystery mystery. At least this time it wasn't until about 10-15 minutes in before they telegraphed the killer. Nice to see both Bulldog from Frasier and Tommy's father from Rescue Me. But this episode was typical of the current season... a few funny parts, but totally unremarkable.



• Psych: I love that Shawn and Gus are terrified of the ghost, and how excited they were at having started an urban legend. But more importantly, setting the mystery in a sorority house is a good idea. For the, uh... interesting relationships between the sisters... yeah, that's the ticket. I love that Gus is starting to get good at detective work. He's obviously not on par with Gus yet, but he's still picking up on a lot of stuff. Mercedes Ruehl in the B-story was pretty good, too. Even though nothing really happened, she really sold the crazy.
  
  One thing that bugged me: Shawn started doing the "redrum" finger motion from The Shining, which seemed like it was obvious that he got that it was Bianca backwards. But then he just stood there like an idiot for a second before seeing the reflection of the Acnaib, then he made his "aha!" face and it was like he didn't get it until then.
  
  The joke that Gus played Bud on The Cosby Show was hilarious. I confuse Dule Hill and Deon Richmond all the time. When Teachers came out a year or two ago, I was seriously confused as to why the guy from The West Wing looked sorta weird. And Airplane's "good luck, we're all counting on you" always makes me laugh.

On the Tivo: Nothing.

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Friday Night TV

Not a great night of TV. Psych was ok, the rest pretty bland. Highlight for spoilers:

Las Vegas: Morena Baccarin! Checking her IMDB page, she's been busy since Serenity, but hasn't been in anything I watch. Can't blame Mike for falling for her, though. But if I was that dude with the three wives, I think my other two wives would feel kinda neglected. I wonder if Jimmy Caan had Misery flashbacks filming all his scenes in bed.

Law & Order: Who plays strip chess? I thought the illegal alien and the Muslim being the top two suspects was a little too convenient, and the show tends to have a liberal slant, so I was not to surprised when it turned out to be a white dude.

Psych: I was worried it was going to be a Gus-less episode, cause the interplay between him and Shawn is my favorite part of the show... but hooray for fake broken grandmother hips! "She had a plaque on the wall, Employee of the Month. Her hobbies were hiding and lying about hiding." I would so wear an Airwolf windbreaker. Anyway, the Lassiter/Henry friendship was kinda interesting. I thought Lassiter would be the one to screw it up, just cause he's so much more uptight, but I was way off.

Left on the Tivo: A plethora of old movies.

I thought there was a new Monk tonight for some reason, but I was misled... or stupid.

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Last Night's TV

Even without Battlestar Galactica, Friday night isn't half bad, thanks to the return of the USA stuff. And NBC's Las Vegas/L&O pairing is... watchable. I kinda gave up on Numb3rs recently, even though it's probably better than L&O, but after 16+ seasons, I have a hard time letting go. I sound like a shill for NBC Universal. But on with it (highlight to reveal spoilers):

• Las Vegas: Whenever something big and expensive shows up, you can be pretty sure it will turn up missing. So when Ed takes off on vacation and a priceless mummy shows up, guess what happens? And it went with the cliched diplomatic immunity plot. So they had to steal the mummy back, Oceans 11 style (costumes, elaborate scheming, montage to explain the whole thing at the end).
  
  The B plots were about Sam being offered $2m cash for 5 minutes of sweet, sweet loving, and Mary after a hotel guest who steals towels and stuff from the rooms. As much as you might have expected a main character in a network tv show to whore herself out, she ended up passing. And as much as you would've expected a completely open and shut case for the room thief, there was a surprise twist! Also, at some point, two attractive young women locked lips. Good times.
  
  This isn't great tv, but mindless fun. And it delivered this time.


• Law & Order: Remember when they sometimes did shows that were not "ripped from the headlines?" Sometimes, they used to actually write stories.
  
  This one's the Ted Haggard story. Anson Mount (Conviction) plays the fundie preacher who's secretly hooking up with a gay male prostitute. In the L&O version, the man whore threatens to expose the affair, and then ends up dead. It's weird that they dig up yet another Conviction alum, after putting Milena Govich in the original and Julianne Nicholson on CI. Mount was solid. But I'm still not digging the new cast members, and the old ones are phoning it in. The writing is weak, and I think had Jerry Orbach not hung around for as long as he did, the show would've died off years ago.


• Monk: First season Monk had mysteries that were sometimes challenging, Monk was a deeper character with his quest to get back on the force and find Trudy's killer, and the show was at times pretty dark, but still managed to be funny. Now, he's still funny, but the mysteries seem to be a lame excuse for a few amusing neuroses to pop up. This week's "I might have inhaled some reefer" spaz was pretty funny, and Tony Shalhoub makes it work. But the show is declining in a hurry. But it's not that old, so you never know when it might turn itself around.


• Psych: On the other hand, Psych is fresh, funny, and smart. James Roday and Dule Hill are great together. The dialogue is crazy and funny and frantic. The mysteries are solid, they surprise you but the twists aren't out of left field. This week it turns to a courtroom drama, with Shawn using his fake powers to defend an accused murderer.
  
  More importantly, Keegan Connor Tracy (semi-racy link) guest stars! She was on Jake 2.0 and all smoking hot in the glasses. She's popped up a few other places (almost all, like Psych, filmed in Vancouver), but usually not with the glasses. She's here, with the glasses again, and awesome. Yes, I'm a nerd and I dig the sexy librarian thing. Sue me. And there is noooo way sleazy weatherman guy wouldn't notice her.
  

Tivo: TCM stuff again.

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