This is about a week overdue and in the interest of catching up, I’ve decided to mash-up weeks two and three into a double posting.

The more I’m watching some of these new shows, the more I’m finding I like my old favorites more. I guess it can take some time to get acclimated to new digs or duds but in the age where an exec would rather green light an eighth straight night of Deal or No Deal over giving a program time to find its footing, it’s tough to fall too hard in love with a show that could be here today, gone tomorrow. Kidnapped has already vanished and while I don’t watch the program, I read that Ray Liotta’s Smith was shut down last week after 3 episodes.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Heroes continues to deliver boffo box-office and was officially picked up for the season. Also, Jericho (which I do not watch) was re-upped for a full 22 episode commitment, so Sean may indeed discover if those nukes are extraterrestrial in origin (a theory I continue to expound without having glimpsed one second of the show).

I’m still watching Friday Night Lights but I’m not gonna’ write about it. I’m not one to follow straight dramas – I like mine chased with a dash of the mysterious or supernatural – but this show has its hooks in me. I may even get around to renting the flick at some time and (dare I say it) reading the book. As with almost every show I’m watching these days, this one has an apparent cast of thousands – and while I don’t yet know everyone’s names I am starting to grasp the dynamics of whose who and what they’re all about. That said – it’s kinda’ tough to write much about a slice o’ life drama. I’m more at ease pointing out punch lines or predicting whose an Other. I’ve read some troubling news about this show’s ratings – so I have a feeling this one may slide off the schedule at some point.

I can’t help feel that nagging notion that I might be back to a limited diet of Lost, 24 and The Office by January. Enough with the days of future past, let’s focus on the past couple of weeks.

Heroes – ‘One Giant Leap’ – 1.3
Heroes is one show that should buck that trend and should still be in my queue come 2007. As I wrote last week, NBC appears to have discovered its Lost – and the ratings have been impressive – and more importantly – have remained fairly steady. No big drop-offs here.

Can’t say that same for fledgling fly boy Peter – who in this episode appears to have lost his ability for flight. While Hiro and Claire appear to have control over their powers – and we’ve seen ample evidence of their practice time – perhaps Peter just needs to exercise the ability in order to control it.

One character that is starting to bother me is Mohinder Suresh – whose main power appears to be the ability to harness mass volumes of expository narration. His dialogue with Peter during the solar eclipse was fairly overwrought and his interplay with Eden has only grown more embarrassing. The writers seem to be using him as the crutch in order to relay a lot of simple info for those Red Staters who might not be able to connect all the dots and characters. Lost has proven that a complicated mythology can still pull big numbers and a loyal fan base. We don’t need everything spoon fed to us. Mohinder also relies quite a bit of ‘good luck’. He found his Dad’s flash memory drive in his Dad’s lizard tank when Eden oh-so conveniently remembers to search for the reptile – and then in a fit of frustration – a tossed laptop reveals a secret diary.

Also it irked me that he didn’t show the cops all the pics he had taken of Sylar’s apartment. Sure the place was cleaned out – but I think the photographic evidence (coupled with the digital time stamp) would prove that Sylar’s pad was decidedly creepier mere hours ago.

I like Greg Grunberg’s character and thought his scene in the bar was well done. Although the dialogue was a bit weak (do people really sit around and compose thoughts which express exactly what’s bothering them in clear, coherent sentences at the very moment a psychic will probe their minds?) – the presence of the creepy guy with the blank slate and the helix symbol was chilling. It matched the intensity of the earlier encounter with Sylar in FBI headquarters.

Although I’m knocking the dialogue a bit – I think the show is very interesting and entertaining and is one that will remain in my stable. In terms of writing, it’s not completely up to Lost’s high standards but it’s pretty damn good and is one of my favorite shows to date. It also consistently looks like a million bucks.

I’d be remiss if I dropped out without adding to my gore count. I guess in FCC land – a wardrobe malfunction trumps an exposed spleen any day of the week.

Week 1    Claire’s Exposed Ribs (which she popped back in)
                Claire’s Mangled Hand

Week 2    Claire’s Broken Neck
                Isaac’s Scooped Brain
                Suburban Dad’s Frozen Body and Scooped Brain
                Suburban Mom Pinned to Wall with Utensil Drawer

Week 3    Claire’s Stick Through the Head (and gooey extraction)
                Claire’s Autopsied Chest

Heroes – ‘Collision’ – 1.4

This episode’s title is well chosen – not only does it comment on the final scenes but it also depicts the various heroes coming together. For this week’s post, I thought I’d run through the various cross-overs and leave a few thoughts.

1.   After being rebuffed by Nathan – Suresh receives a visit from the pol’s bro, Peter, who wants to discuss his burgeoning abilities. Peter gives voice to a popular theory – that perhaps he is more Rogue than Superman – and is able to ‘borrow’ the powers of those super-beings he is near. So far he has demonstrated the ability to fly, to read minds and to paint/draw the future (his little hospital bed stick drawing – although it could be argued that he was simply scrawling images from his dreams). Suresh isn’t buying it (what’s up with this guy and his wacky characterization – he’s suddenly a complete skeptic just because Nathan rebuffed him?)

2.   Nikki gets drafted into service to entertain Nathan – who’s stumping for his campaign in Las Vegas. While good girl Nikki decides against going too far with Nathan – her alter ego takes charge, threatens to spike a thug and then returns to Nathan’s hotel room to grant him far more than Ando’s $39 ever got him online. Nikki’s power is still baffling to me. Essentially she just has a split-personality – which doesn’t seem to be much of a power. Granted, she does display some super-human strength – but so far I’m not seeing anything too extroadinary that Midol couldn’t sure.

3.   Hiro and Ando make their way to Vegas – hang out at The Montecito (how’s that for cross over!) – and pull off their best Rain Man impersonation (which gets a funny shout out in their post-winnings escalator descent). I laughed out loud when Hiro got busted in the chops. Hiro continues to impress – and I’ll get to his big reveal in a few minutes.

4. Matt (Greg Grunberg) didn’t really cross over with any heroes – but he did continue his run in with Dr. Horned Rim and his brain probing assistant. Speaking of which, I’m going on a limb and predicting that bald dude is Nikki’s missing hubby.

5. Claire crosses over indirectly with Isaac – as Isaac displays his powers and paints Claire’s run in with that ‘football player rapist’. I thought the depiction of Isaac’s craft was very well done – with his eyes going all ‘Storm’ and the image leaping from his hand to the parchment.

6. Finally, Peter crosses with Hiro in a cool end-cap to the show as Hiro freezes his subway and emerges from the future, a complete and total samarai bad-ass. I liked Hiro’s perfect English and little quip to Peter about him not yet having a scar. How does he get that scare? Is Hiro’s Ginsu to blame?

Before going, the gore quotient was surprisingly light this week – other than a visit back to Claire’s autopsy table. We pretty much got the same shots as last week (stick in head – chest sliced open) although this week we got to see Claire ‘pull herself together.’ I thought it was a neat (albeit, grisly) transition when the Chapter Title “Collision” was printed on Claire’s skin moments before a scapel dove in and sliced it open. Amazing what they can get away with these days.

The Office – ‘The Coup’ – 3.3
On first review, I thought this episode was a bit off-kilter , the jokes didn’t flow as quickly as they usually do. I ended up watching it again and appreciated it more on second viewing.

The A-Plot followed Dwight’s decision to undermine Michael and go for his job – at the insistence of his Lady MacBeth Angela. In the B-Plot, Jim learned that the Stamford’s idea of Office Olympics is 3-on-3 death matches in Call of Duty 2. He also learned that you don’t bring a smoke grenade to a gun fight.

Onto the highlights:

1.   I always love Jan’s interactions with Dwight. She seems genuinely creeped out by him. She had a great line – in response to Dwight’s initial call to her – where she instructed him that if he need to speak with her – he should work through Michael who can relay the message to her and therefore they won’t need to speak to each other.

2.   Poor Jim. Not only is he a totally n00b when it comes to online war fare – he’s also saddled with a complete psycho of a platoon-mate in Andy. When Andy learned that Jim had chosen a sniper rifle for their latest map, he went ballistic. “I’m going to kill you for real. The game is over. I am going to shoot you.”

3.   Michael’s obsession for Entourage comes about a year too late. Still, there’s some real world lessons to be learned . To make up with Dwight, Michael drops Ari’s catch phrase – “Let’s hug it out, bitch.” He then proceeds to lecture the audience that you shouldn’t use that phrase with women as it loses something in translation. Words to live by, bitch.

4.   Jan & Dwight’s exchange about Liz Claiborne:

Dwight:   I know you like their blouses.
Jan:    How do you know that?
Dwight:    It’s my job to know.
Jan:    No, it isn’t. It’s officially NOT your job to know.

5.   The outtakes (which Joe so kindly pointed me to) infer that creepy Creed is living in two countries – sleeping at his desk 4 nights and at his apartment in Montreal the other three  – meaning he is not even a US citizen. “Lovely countries, both of ‘em.”

The Office – ‘Grief Counseling’ – 3.4
Now this is The Office firing on all cylinders. The plot focused on the tragic death of Michael’s former boss, Ed Truck, whose head was taken off by a truck. Truck showed up in one episode last season (‘The Carpet’) where he cautioned Michael about getting too chummy with his charges. A little bit of trivia – Truck was played by Ken Howard – who was most notable as The White Shadow.

Onto the highlights:

1.   It’s the little things that always get me. When Michael is talking to Jan about memorializing Ed with a statue (or 2/3rds scale robot) he keeps sliding a piece of paper over Ed’s head as he imagines his boss sans cabeza. I love Jan’s line back to Michael and Dwight as they prattle on about the ‘robot’ and the measures required to keep it from turning on them. “What the hell are you two talking about?”

2.   On the subject of missing heads, here’s some classic ‘Creepy Creed’.

Creed:   Well, a human being can often live for several hours after having its head cut off.
Dwight:   You’re thinking of a chicken.
Creed:   What did I say?

3.   I like how Million Dollar Baby and The Lion King fly right over Michael’s head, but there’s no slipping Weekend at Bernie’s by him.

4.   The opening ‘Going Down to the Warehouse’ gag was great. I lost it when Michael came crawling back in with the coffee. The look of desperation as Pam asked for cream and sugar was pitch-perfect.

5.   Here’s a classic Dwight musing.

Dwight:   When my mother was pregnant with me, they did an ultrasound and found she was having twins, and when they did another ultrasound a few weeks later, they discovered that I had resorbed the other fetus. Do I regret this? No. I believe his tissue has made me stronger. I now have the strength of a grown man and a little baby.

6.   We’ll leave with these age words.

Michael:   There are five stages to grief. Which are (reads from computer) denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. And right now, out there, they are all denying the fact that they’re sad. And…that’s hard. And that’s making them all angry. And it is my job to get them all the way through to acceptance. And if not acceptance, then just depression. If I can get them depressed, then I will have done my job.