I'm looking forward to Gilmore Girls as well. It looks like we might get a tangled woven web there as well.

Originally posted by Hazel:
[QB]Season 4 of Angel never existed?  That explains why I refused my mom's offer to loan it to me.  Somehow I knew...  wouldn't want to bring somehting like that into the house, lord knows what might get sucked into the swirling vortex of terror...

Exactly. If I wanted bad characterization, sub-par writing, and illness-of-the-week syndrome, I'd watch Lifetime. ;)

BTW, work sucks!  why?  because it has the nerve to keep me so busy lately that I can't even log on to say hello!  I mean really, how rude!

Aww, poor Haze. You are missed around these parts. Just ain't the same without ya. :)

Still watching Scrubs here, enjoying it a ton.  Very goofy humor.

I'm not sure if anybody's mentioned it, but next Wednesday, ABC's premiering "Lost", a show from J.J. Abrams (creator of Alias).  It's about the survivors of a plane crash on a desert island.  I've heard nothing but good things.

Oh, and like the sucker I am, I bought the third season of Alias on DVD...

Hazel wrote:

Bummed I missed Jack and Bobby but I will look for one of those repeats.  Is that standard practice these days?

I wouldn't say it is standard practice, but repeating the first few episodes of shows with a high profile seems to be a way for networks to get viewers to sample the show. Once they've caught a few eps, the show tends to only have a single timeslot. The WB is an exception in that they use Sunday evenings to repeat two shows they want to promote. They call it EasyView or something like that. One season it was Smallville: The Beginnings another it was Gilmore Girls reapeats. I guess this season might be Jack & Bobby. But Jack & Bobby is also on tonight at 9pm for any who missed it. As well as Survivor, Joey, Will & Grace, and The Apprentice. Big night in TV land.

On a Side note, I'm still trying to figure out a schedule where i have more time on-line to smarch. Now that I am out of work, I find myself busier than ever. So far I've sanded down a wall and repainted. I've patched up a soffit, sanded it down and repainted. I've sprayed the lawn for fleas and ants, started a will, had my car repaired, networked, wrote 3 different resumes, worked on a beta program for Adobe, filed for unemployment, bought tickets to atlanta, and job searched. not to mention the everyday stuff like laundry and dinners and kids. I be busy, but I have been watching tv and need to schedule in my smarch time. I'll plan something today.

Calesta wrote:

Tell me about it!  I count on hockey season to keep my husband busy while I watch all of my shows.  I like watching the occasional game,

So this is the place to mutter rude things about the owners and the players?

I saw a news clip that suggests there could be no hockey on tv for two years!
I really enjoyed the world cup and thought I'd finally found a sport I'd like to watch on tv....*sigh*

Um Season 4 is badly Written? Or acted? I was kind of enjoying the whole Angel being Angelus thing. Unless I'm not in season 4 anymore? Illness of the week? So far it's been one long, continous story with the ebas and Cordelia as the vil master. Darnit and I missed yesterdays episode...hope it wasn't important...8P

@Ren - personally what bothered me most about the season that didn't exist was Connor.  And Cordy and the very wrongness of that situation and the very badness of Connor's acting ability.  I think there were some good points & they could have gone good places with the storyline.  But for me Connor ruined it all....

And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers...

Brad was so confident in the good job that he had done selling gelato that he said something to that effect in the boardroom - that he was so great at his task that he didn't even need "immunity" & pretty much gave it up....  obviously the Donald didn't like that move.

Anyone have survivor thoughts yet??  Too early really to form any real opinions.  Looks like an interesting group of people though & could be a good season.  I thought there was supposed to be a big, shocking twist though.  Or is that coming later?

Calesta wrote:

And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers... And now I am going to post Apprentice spoilers...

Brad was so confident in the good job that he had done selling gelato that he said something to that effect in the boardroom - that he was so great at his task that he didn't even need "immunity" & pretty much gave it up....  obviously the Donald didn't like that move.

So Brad was dumped for being a conceited @zz? That was the life threatening thing he did? What absolute drivel.

yup, you heard right.... new season starts on Tuesday the 21st

Renfield wrote:

Um Season 4 is badly Written? Or acted? I was kind of enjoying the whole Angel being Angelus thing. Unless I'm not in season 4 anymore? Illness of the week? So far it's been one long, continous story with the ebas and Cordelia as the vil master. Darnit and I missed yesterdays episode...hope it wasn't important...8P

Hi Ren,

Angel Season 4. Where to start? There ARE some good things about the season. However, it is certainly my least favorite season, out of all 12 Buffyverse seasons. My reasons are listed below. Read on only if you want SPOILAGE.

***SPOILERS ANGEL S4 & 5***
***Don't read if you don't want to know***

1. Characterization. On "Angel", and its sister series "Buffy", the characters develop and change thru the years. That's the great thing about the two shows. You get to see your characters evolve and grow as they interact with the world around them. It's awesome when a static character gains some depth: it's hard to do in writing. And hard to make that effect come across on film. Change is good.

But the changes made to some characters during (and immediately before) season 4 aren't remotely believeable. The most drastic change in characterization happens to Cordy. She goes from still very obsessed with her looks and clothes in S1 and 2... to a holy, pure being of goodness and light, completely eschewing the values of the mortal world. If the writers wanted a pure being of goodness and light, why not simply write in a new character instead of drastically altering one of the main characters? Especially one who had been seen for so long.

Other characterization mistakes: Connor is never once remotely likeable. From the beginning to the end of S4, we're "treated" to Angel's whiney, psychotic, killer son. Yes, he tries to stab Cordy. And kill Angel. And stun-guns Fred. OK, he gets points for that last one. But even at his best, he's sullen, brooding, and totally unlikeable.

Compare this to Dawn, a comparable "non-existant" character over on BTVS: sure, she whines a lot, but does she actually go around trying to KILL the other characters?! No. Connor's actions are psychotic and entirely unbelieveable in any context... and the other character's reactions? "Well, let's give him another chance. He's only tried to kill us six or seven times so far. He can stay in the hotel with us. Because we don't mind murderers sleeping over in the next room." Un-f-ing-believeable.

Not to mention Wes keeping women locked in his closet. Is that remotely believeable, considering the 9 episodes on BTVS in which he appeared? Or the first 20 episodes in which he appeared on ATS? No. Dork to uber-cool guy? Sure. Dork to sadistic kidnapper? Character assassination at its worst.

2. Illness-of-the-Week. S4 is so poorly written. Cordy spends roughly 5 episodes floating around as a 'higher being'. Then she spends 5 episodes having amnesia. Then she spends 5 episodes possessed by a demon. Finally, she spends the last 5 episodes in a coma. Coma, demon possession, amnesia... the hallmarks of the badly written soap opera. And that's just ONE character.

In addition, there's the love triangle between Angel, Cordy, and Connor, and the love triangle between Gunn, Fred, and Wes. Love triang-ly enough? Nope, the writers add a Lilah-Wes storyline in. And regarding Angel and Cordy: Why oh why do TV writers always make the leading lady and leading man fall in love? Can't the two leads ever just have a strong friendship without sex becoming an issue?

3. The Oedipus thing. Connor-Cordy. There should be some kind of rule: if you show a woman taking care of a baby, you can't show her a year later having sex with said child. It's icky. The actress has stated in interviews that even she herself *hated* this storyline. Actually, she may have hated all the storylines she was given this season: she asked her fans to petition the production company. It's pretty clear that the writers were having a hard time coming up with a good storyline for her, and eventually settled on four quite seperate storylines, none of which were very creative, IMO. Finally, they just shicked her off to Comaville and left her there. So lazy.

4. Lorne is made a permanent cast member in this season. I dislike this character. And just how many times does he get hit in the head? You'd think that by about the 4th or 5th time, he'd start getting wise to it.

5. The writers actually acknowledge how bad the season was, by writing it away, shoving every part of the year under the rug. A Mindwipe occurs at the end of the season. Connor vanishes, Cordy is never seen again (alive, anyway), and every character forgets about the things that happened in season 4. Only Angel remembers, but since only he knows, there's no way he can talk about it. Effectively, it never happened.

Which is just fine with me.

Season 5 was so excellent, with the reintroduction of characters from BTVS, and the return to creative scripts and believeable characterization, that I can overlook the badness that was S4.

And when I get the series on DVD, I'll probably get S1-3, and S5 for sure.

But just to show that I'm not totally against "The Bad Season", I'll mention that I liked Faith returning (for three whole episodes, even!), and the Wes-Lilah relationship was pretty cool. And.. that's about it.

** end of spoilers **

Firsfron of Ronchester wrote:

apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers apprentice spoilers



Well, Bradford didn't 'pretty much' waive his immunity... he DID waive his immunity. At first, I was shocked by Trump's decision, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to me.

Trump's point was that you should NEVER give up an advantage like that, when no gain is involved. If Bradford was running one of Trump's companies, and did something impulsive like that, it might very well cost the entire company. So I respect the decision, shocking though it was.

If in the complete absense of all exemptions and by Trump's own admission, Bradford was the best person in the board room and should have been in no danger.  In light of this, was the exemption really an advantage?  If he felt that he'd gain standing in the group by forgoing the exemption isn't that better in the long run than the 'worthless' exemption?

Did anyone see Jack and Bobby last night? Thoughts? I think the furture-narration could get old fast, unless they get creative with it.

Also watched Jack & Bobby. Liked the episode but the future blurps somehow got tuned out by my brain when they came on. I can't honestly say I remember what any of them were about except they had something to do with mom being a Democrat and the kid being a Repulican.

Did we notice the Kerry/Edwards poster at the end when mom gave her midnight speech?

[ September 20, 2004: Message edited by: Seitherin ]